Renteria's Lament (and Mine)

by Titus Pullo on Jul 6, 2006 10:08 AM EDT

Did anyone else notice? Renteria's a good player again.

Edgar Renteria '06
AVG .313 | HR 9 | RBI 35 | OBP .392 | SLG .464

There also was an article on ESPN's site on how uncomfortable Renteria felt in Boston after fans took to calling him "Rent-a-Wreak." How ironic that Edgar left claiming that he wasn't respected in St. Louis. Good solution, Edgar.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that I don't like Eckstein. The guy's a baller, a true competitor. But he doesn't have Renteria's talent.

Maybe the Cardinals are better off not paying so many millions to Edgar. But I can't help thinking that Renteria's decision to leave was regrettable across the board. It also seems to me that a player's contract decisions are among the most important decisions they can make that influence whether or not they win a world series ring.

It's been said many times before, but I'll say it again: Renteria chose poorly.

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Comments

they are

certainly better off w/o Edgar. He's still good, but Eck has been a great find and a great value.

Reverend Redbird

by erik on Jul 6, 2006 10:17 AM EDT reply actions

No way...

I'll defend Edgar on this one. Management wanted to back load his contract and delay payment on most of his salary. The way they strucutured his contract, he would have not received all his money for twenty years. Would you do that? Yeah, he crumbled in Boston but now is having a great year in Atlanta. Thank him for what he did for us and that's enough.

by Brock20 on Jul 6, 2006 10:46 AM EDT reply actions

even if

the cardinals resigned renteria they could have added eck as a second baseman. that would've been beautiful. eck in the leadoff with renteria in the 2-hole. im glad to see renteria having a good year in atlanta (since it isnt really helping them) because i enjoyed watching him play in st. louis.

by lopey986 on Jul 6, 2006 11:11 AM EDT reply actions

And there's the kicker

Renteria or not, the Cards needed a leadoff guy.

by sdrone on Jul 6, 2006 12:19 PM EDT up reply actions

The management

of this team keeps trying to get players to take the "hometown discount", for reasons known only to them. It may have worked in the past, but not anymore. Now that I've had a year to step back and look at things, I don't blame Edgar one bit for leaving.

by cardsrul on Jul 6, 2006 12:39 PM EDT reply actions

if they had signed

edgar, a lot of things would be different on this team. they probably would not have had the payroll clearance to trade for mulder; might have kept haren, or might have swung another trade for a less pricey pitcher. they still would have needed a leadoff guy, yes --- but edgar might've been him.

that negotiation was a real fork in the road

by lboros on Jul 6, 2006 12:41 PM EDT reply actions

Seems like a no-brainer in hindsight

We can only guess how things might've turned out if Renteria had been resigned, but that scenario looks pretty rosy to me. I really wanted Renteria resigned and they could've used the money spent on Mulder to do it. Then we would've had Haren, and maybe signed Eckstein to leadoff at 2B (unlikely, but possible.) And we would still have Barton for trade bait.

by rob is back on Jul 6, 2006 2:18 PM EDT up reply actions