Welcome Edgar!
This is an awesome signing. It does so many things for us. First of all, Renteria himself.
Here in Boston he's remembered as the guy who hit the comebacker to Foulke to clinch the first World Series Championship for Boston in 86 years, but he's SO much more than that.
This guy can play. In the field he's a Gold Glover (02,03), and (although not quite as flashy) will continue to stabalize the infield "D" the way Cabrera did it this season. At the plate we got our guy at the top of the lineup to hit behind Damon.
He's got about a 350 career on base percentage, he's a double's machine, he can put a few out, hit for average, and he'll be both driving in and scoring a lot of runs. Good luck to any pitcher who has to face Damon, Renteria, Manny, and Big Papi all in a rowe, 4 times a game. This HAS to make the most devastating top 4 in the game right now. And as great of a job that Bellhorn did there last year, we can now move him to the bottom of the order and just make it that much tougher on an opposing team's pitching.
He's still relatively young (29) and has a ton of post season experience (almost 200 AB's, including 2 World Series). He was also the last batter of the "97" WS as he drove in the game (and WS) winning run against Cleveland.
He was known as a leader in the St Louis clubhouse and a great teammate. He should fit right in on this team.
The other thing this does for us is give us a chance to use Hanley Ramirez to get that pitcher we need to replace Pedro.
Of course this also means that Orlando Cabrera will now definitely not be back. I loved having Orlando on the team. He was a solid player who made some clutch plays for us during the run to the playoffs AND in the playoffs. He was fun to have around and it was great to watch all the handshakes he had for each teammate. He wasn't around long, but he certainly made an impact during the short time he was here by helping the team do something that hadn't been done in 86 years. And just like Kapler and everyone else who doesn't come back, he'll always have a special place here in Boston baseball (and sports) lore.
Here in Boston he's remembered as the guy who hit the comebacker to Foulke to clinch the first World Series Championship for Boston in 86 years, but he's SO much more than that.
This guy can play. In the field he's a Gold Glover (02,03), and (although not quite as flashy) will continue to stabalize the infield "D" the way Cabrera did it this season. At the plate we got our guy at the top of the lineup to hit behind Damon.
He's got about a 350 career on base percentage, he's a double's machine, he can put a few out, hit for average, and he'll be both driving in and scoring a lot of runs. Good luck to any pitcher who has to face Damon, Renteria, Manny, and Big Papi all in a rowe, 4 times a game. This HAS to make the most devastating top 4 in the game right now. And as great of a job that Bellhorn did there last year, we can now move him to the bottom of the order and just make it that much tougher on an opposing team's pitching.
He's still relatively young (29) and has a ton of post season experience (almost 200 AB's, including 2 World Series). He was also the last batter of the "97" WS as he drove in the game (and WS) winning run against Cleveland.
He was known as a leader in the St Louis clubhouse and a great teammate. He should fit right in on this team.
The other thing this does for us is give us a chance to use Hanley Ramirez to get that pitcher we need to replace Pedro.
Of course this also means that Orlando Cabrera will now definitely not be back. I loved having Orlando on the team. He was a solid player who made some clutch plays for us during the run to the playoffs AND in the playoffs. He was fun to have around and it was great to watch all the handshakes he had for each teammate. He wasn't around long, but he certainly made an impact during the short time he was here by helping the team do something that hadn't been done in 86 years. And just like Kapler and everyone else who doesn't come back, he'll always have a special place here in Boston baseball (and sports) lore.
posted by Bob at 12/15/2004 01:14:00 PM
1 Comments:
If they use him to get Hudson (which I would love to see, as I have already mentioned a couple of times), they will probably be able to sign him to a long term deal.
I'll take Hudson and Renteria for the next 4 years in place of Ramirez any time. It wouldn't be like Bagwell because we would essentially be getting 2 quality major leaguers for the next 4 years or so, and that's a trade worth making even IF Ramirez lives up to his potential.
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