Thursday, November 4, 2010

Giants Decline Renteria's $10.5 Million Option

It has been announced that the Giants have declined Edgar Renteria's $10.5 million club option. The decision is not surprising. Despite being named the World Series MVP just a couple of days ago, Renteria's career has been on the decline for a while and he is not even close to being a $10.5 million player. The real question is whether or not Edgar Renteria comes back at all next year.

First of all, Renteria did state during the season that he was mulling retirement and has continued to say that, although he hasn't made a final decision. Secondly, all Giants fans love and appreciate what Renteria did for the team during the World Series. But the fact is, he was a player most fans loved to hate during the regular season because he's just not very good anymore. Offensively, he has very little power and doesn't get on base particularly well and defensively, he's lost range. It's clear that he is no longer an everyday player.

The only reason bringing back Renteria is even an option is because the free agent shortstop class is incredibly weak. Juan Uribe is probably the best shortstop available, and even he's not an ideal starter. Additionally, Uribe will probably be able to get a starting job somewhere and will be looking for a good amount of money. Beyond him, there's Orlando Cabrera? Mike Fontenot? Some pretty unflattering options. Renteria has shown that he can be effective at times and he'd be cheap. But as I stated before, he is not an everyday player, so the Giants would need to have someone else for the position.

It's hard for me to see him coming back. The Giants need to improve the offense and shortstop is one of the areas they should look to find it. To do this they'd have to go through the trade market but it's clear that they could use an upgrade at shortstop. As Renteria is mulling retirement, I see the Giants looking to improve the position. If they're unsuccessful, maybe they offer Renteria a 1 year/$1 million dollar deal or something like that at the last minute. But Giants fans should hope the team will have a better option come 2011.

I'd be curious to see what you guys think. Should Edgar stay or go?

5 comments:

  1. Its sad, but that's baseball. I'd hate to see him go after the emotional world series but its true he isn't close to being worth that much

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  2. With the recession in the SS market, I wouldn't be against a 1year/$1mil deal and platooning him with Uribe. Or see if Rohlinger can cut it.

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  3. What about Crawford? I know he's still probably a long way off but does anyone know what his timeline is?

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  4. If they didn't re-sign anyone or trade for anyone, Crawford would probably be the guy to come up, but that's an emergency situation. He is not ready. I think they'd be comfortable with him in 2012. Right now his defense is great, but he has a long way to go offensively.

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  5. Welcome my son...welcome...to The Machine...
    "Wierdliness is next to Godliness."

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