Renteria Hopes To Stay A Cardinal
All-Star shortstop entering final year of contract
By Matthew Leach / MLB.com
02/25/2004
JUPITER, Fla. -- Recognition finally started to find Edgar Renteria in 2003. The Cardinals shortstop earned his first All-Star start, his second Gold Glove and his second Silver Slugger Award. Sometime in the next 11 months, the big money seems sure to follow that recognition as it almost always does.
Renteria, the Cardinals' unofficial captain and the National League's best all-around shortstop, reported for Spring Training on Wednesday hoping for a follow-up to his breakthrough 2003 campaign. He also began what could be his last season as a Redbird -- Renteria is eligible for free agency after the 2004 season.
He's still carrying the extra weight he added in 2003, arriving with 208 pounds spread out over his 6-foot-1 frame. Renteria attributes his stellar '03 campaign partly to that bit of additional weight. The lifetime .289 hitter set career marks in eight major offensive categories last year, including batting average (.330) and RBIs (100). He's been working out and taking some swings during the offseason, but not taking any ground balls.
"I take enough every day (during the season)," he quipped. "I think when you get older you have to work more. To keep in the same shape, you have to. I'm not 23, I'm older. When you're 23, you don't do anything."
Renteria's no graybeard. This will be his ninth Major League season, but he doesn't turn 29 until August. He's very much in his prime, and recognized as a leader and a perfect example of how to go about playing the game. All of which means the Cards would prefer to keep him around.
The team recently locked up Albert Pujols with a seven-year, $100 million deal, and Scott Rolen is signed through 2010. Whether the Cards will be willing and able to pony up to keep Renteria remains to be seen. But unlike Pujols, who took a somewhat confrontational public stance before finishing a deal, Renteria is quick to assert that he wants very much to remain in red and white.
"I want to be here for seven years, too," he said. "I like St. Louis. I like everybody. I feel comfortable. But I don't know. I have to wait. I don't want to think about it in Spring Training. I don't want to think about my contract right now."
Once considered in the second tier of shortstops, behind Alex Rodriguez, Nomar Garciaparra and Derek Jeter, Renteria established himself as one of the elite in 2003. Rodriguez has moved into a class by himself, but he has also moved to third base -- making Renteria a legitimate claimant to the title of best shortstop in baseball.
His power falls short of Garciaparra's and Miguel Tejada's, but he gets on base at a higher clip than either player and is recognized as a superior defensive player. He's a prolific and efficient basestealer and a quality base runner as well.
"He's got really good stats," said manager Tony La Russa. "But what's the most impressive is the way he played the game. If you look at his stolen bases, and even his RBIs, how many times they were game bags or game ribbies. He's really one of the best winning players in the big leagues."
It all almost assures that one way or another, Renteria will make the big dollars in 2004 -- not that he's hurting this year. He's making a reported $7.5 million in the final year of a contract that started in 2000. Tejada signed a six-year, $72 million deal this winter, while Rodriguez and Jeter both signed mega-deals in a different economic climate -- before the current collective bargaining agreement and a recent market correction.
General manager Walt Jocketty has identified re-signing Renteria as a top priority, perhaps even ahead of retaining ace starter Matt Morris.
"I think that obviously would be our next focus, to try and work on Edgar," Jocketty said after the Cards locked up Pujols. "Hopefully we can do that. Edgar's another one of the cornerstone players of our club. He's a key element of our everyday club that we have to try to re-sign."
Renteria insists he'd rather not think about it at all. He said that he has told his agent, Jeff Lane, not to tell him anything about negotiations for the time being.
"I do my job, my agent does his job and we go," he said. "To me, I'd like to play here for 20 years. I like St. Louis. ... I compare my numbers. I think I deserve what I deserve. The numbers talk. I don't have to talk in the papers. My numbers talk. I don't need to talk about it."
Meanwhile, it's not only in question where Renteria will play in 2005. There's some uncertainty as to where he will hit in 2004. He took to batting sixth or seventh last year, tallying 100 RBIs. No full-time NL shortstop had reached that plateau since Hubie Brooks in 1985. But Renteria's speed and ability to get on base also make him an ideal candidate to bat leadoff -- an area where the Cards are clearly lacking.
Renteria has said in the past that he prefers hitting in more of an RBI spot, and La Russa and teammates consider him a clutch hitter par excellence. But if he doesn't set the table, who will?
"Where do you hit Edgar? You know you have a top-of-the-lineup need, and he could do it," La Russa said. "But man, when you have somebody that has that kind of production, I guarantee you that he would be hard to replace in that six or seven spot."
Renteria still expresses a slight preference for hitting lower in the order, but also said he'd be willing to go wherever the manager puts him.
"Tony knows me," he said. "Tony knows if he needs me to be the leadoff man, I'll be there. If he needs me second, I'll be there. Seventh, whatever. I don't have a problem with it."
He'd rather ponder questions like that than discuss negotiation, that's for sure.
"I don't think about my contract," Renteria said. "I think about baseball."
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