Clearly the Giants do not believe Emmanuel Burriss is ready for the prime time. For two years, I can live with the Edgar Rental. I don't expect much, his OPS+ last year was an abysmal 84, and lifetime it's 96. He's league-average as a hitter, which is good for a shortstop, but there are some questions about his glove. If we can get a 2007-like year (OPS+ 125), the drinks are on me.
FanGraphs has the best take on it (link via Lefty), and BCB has some thoughts as well (with more cool pitch f/x stuff on our FNG*). Check out OBM for some contrarian grumbling.
*fookin' new guy
UPDATE: Here's a quote to cherish:
"In the American League, you have to wait for the home run," Renteria said. "To me, that's kind of boring."
(from the Chris Haft article)
4 comments:
Decent player; $9M plus seems like a big pile of money, though. Better signing than Furcal would have been.
better than Furcal for sure, and I like the prudent two year deal. Maybe Buriss will be ready then? The money doesn't really bother me becasue evryone is overpaid, but who was offering Edgar $16 mill? Did they have to go $18.5 to close?
$9 mil/yr is the market price for veterans with his pedigree (All-Star, Gold Glove). Giants have plenty of money. I've no doubt Sabean sweetened the pot to finalize the deal. That seems to be his m.o. when he really wants a guy.
My concern--we have no one else on the depth chart. Burriss didn't make the grade in the AFL so we HAD to chase Renteria. We didn't have another option.
As previously mentioned, Furcal would have cost the same or more, was hurt last year, would have gotten a four year contract and been the same age as Ed Rent at the end of it. I left a note on OBM. There may be something to the "Orioles sign Miguel Tejada for $13,000,000 per year" philosophy. If you can upgrade your team even if it means overpaying, maybe you can attract some real hitters. It does not seem likely that our farm system will produce a team full of big boppers. Some, hopefully, but not a team full. And because we are not just one slightly-better hitter away from contention, we will need to shop for bop. But no one will want to sign up for the Bonds treatment and break records for IBB's. So you have to put enough muscle on the team to convince a difference maker to sign up. Is Brian Sabean still smarting from being rejected by Soriano and Sarge, Jr.? Maybe. The point here is not that Ed Rent will make a big difference. The point is that, with some development or maybe a shrewd trade, we might find a way to set the stage for a difference.
I notice a lot of negative commentary about Jorge Cantu, a Marlin 3rd baseman I had identified as a potential Giant. As best as I can figure the negative commentary boils down to two points: his defense sucks and a straight up trade for Jonathan Sanchez is giving away too much. Maybe one other thing, a lack of trust that his 29 hr from last year are reproducible. I was looking at offense, did not check his defense. Of course you do not want a sucky defender in the hot corner, but you do want someone who has a legitimate shot to hit more than 20 hr. No, let me take that back. You want someone who has a legitimate shot to hit more than 30 hr. Maybe more than one guy. You need muscle to win championships and some supporting hitters. Right now, we got some supporting hitters. God would I love to see Pablo hit 30 next year.
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