It's Finally Official, Renteria Signs

Although the initial report came about 2 weeks premature, the inevitable did finally happen officially on Thursday afternoon as the Giants signed shortstop Edgar Renteria to a 2 year, $18.5 million contract. I've gone over Renteria in depth over the past couple posts so I can't say much that hasn't already been said. I don't love this deal by any stretch, but I don't hate it either. Again, I would have rather seen Rafael Furcal sign since they were insisting on adding a shortstop, as I think his ceiling is a lot higher at this point that Renteria's (yes, even with the back concerns). That said, I fully expect Edgar to return to closer to his career averages next season after a sub-par year in Detroit. Renteria, by far, is better offensively than anyone the Giants have had at shortstop since earlier in the decade when a younger Rich Aurilia was playing all-star quality baseball for this team. The good news about Renteria is that he's supposedly working out diligently in order to right himself after last years disappointment, so he seems determined to rebound. Remember, he is just 2 years removed from an all-star season in Atlanta (.332 12 home runs, 57 RBI, 11 SB in 124 games). His best season came in 2003 in which he hit .330 with 13 home runs, 100 RBI and 34 stolen bases with St. Louis. Now 33, I doubt he has any breakout type seasons like that left, but I do expect an average around .290-.300, with 10-15 home runs and 60-70 RBI at the top of the Giants order while being a steady hand in the middle of the infield. I see him as the shortstop equivalent to Randy Winn, without as much speed. Again, not a game changer, but should be fine over the next 2 seasons and an upgrade to what they previously had. He should be fine here, I just would have rather gone in a different direction and targeted a game changing type shortstop (Hardy, Furcal) or given Burris the reigns for 2009 and looked into someone like Felipe Lopez or Jerry Hairston Jr. as insurance.

The Giants have been the most active team in baseball this winter and they aren't done yet, so active it's been hard to go a day without having something to post about. In addition to looking for more offense at the infield corners, they also have their eye on this years big fish. It appears C.C. Sabathia is very much on their radar and the consensus around the league is that Sabathia's two most likely destinations are San Francisco and New York (Yankees). Or course if the Giants did land C.C., they would likely trade Matt Cain for a power hitter, so you need to take that into account when assessing this situation. Still highly unlikely, but this story is starting to play out very similar to the Barry Zito two winters ago. More on this to come!