Pitchers Are Likely To Hit 8th Again
Rick Hummel
Post-Dispatch
December 16, 1998
Cards Newcomer Renteria Will Be, In Effect, A Leadoff Man And A Second Place Hitter.
Edgar Renteria will bat first -- and then second -- for the Cardinals, manager Tony La Russa said.
Translated, that means Renteria, acquired from Florida late Monday night for prospects Braden Looper, Pablo Ozuna and Armando Almanza, will bat first in the first inning and then be the equivalent of a No. 2 hitter after that. Yes, La Russa said he plans for the pitcher to bat eighth again, as he did last year in the second half of the season.
"I know Renteria is a classic No. 2 hitter," La Russa said. "The way he puts the ball in play and hits the ball to the right side . . . with whoever's on first (base), it's first and third or first and home."
But, La Russa wants to bat rookie J.D. Drew second -- in front of Mark McGwire.
"It's the perfect situation for him, by my definition," La Russa said. "(Drew) has got speed and power, and he's got the big guy hitting behind him.
"Our lineup would be Renteria, Drew, McGwire, (Ray) Lankford, (Eric) Davis, (Fernando) Tatis, (Eli) Marrero, the pitcher and second base. That ain't bad."
La Russa said the pitcher-hitting-eighth lineup "gives us a better chance to win. All kidding aside, I like it. All I know is that we were 10 games over .500 using it so it didn't hurt us. If the season started tomorrow, the pitcher would hit eighth."
Renteria, speaking from a gymnasium in Barranquilla, Colombia, where he was working out, said he hardly could wait for that season to start.
"From what I hear, it's a good town, and he's a good manager," Renteria said. "We've got a chance."
Renteria has experienced the ultimate high, getting the winning hit in the 1997 World Series. And the ultimate low, playing on a team that was broken up and finished last this year.
"This year I feel like nothing," Renteria said. "It was hard to play this year, knowing we had no team to compete. I feel bad growing up in the organization. We win the World Series and the next year, they broke the team up."
Renteria, 23, said he wasn't surprised to be traded.
"When you're on the Marlins team, you never know what's going on," Renteria said. "This year, I said they'd never trade Charles Johnson. When they did, I said, 'I'm next.' That happens in baseball. I have no control over that.
"I want to play for the Cardinals. I want to show the fans I can play hard for a team that can win."
The biggest hit
Renteria's 11th-inning single off Cleveland's Charles Nagy won the World Series in 1997 for the Marlins.
"That moment I can't put out of my mind," he said. "That was a big game for my family."
This season, Renteria made the National League All-Star team. Now, he said he wanted to continue to improve.
"I want to hit more home runs (he had three last season). No, I'm gong to save the home runs for Big Mac. I don't need them."
Batting leadoff, Renteria figures to run more.
"I think I've got a good chance to steal many more bases with Big Mac behind me," Renteria said.
"Big Mac can do a lot of things. I respect him a lot for what he did for baseball last year."
Renteria said he was looking forward to play next to third baseman Fernando Tatis. He also said he did not know that second baseman Delino DeShields had signed with Baltimore, and he joked that the Cardinals had a "prospect" (McGwire) at first base.
La Russa called Renteria late Monday night.
"Tennessee to Colombia is not the easiest thing," La Russa said. "I started talking in Spanish, and he was answering in English."
Renteria said, "I know Tony can speak good Spanish. But I try to speak English. I know English a little bit."
Vina deal is not likely
Now that the Cardinals have acquired a shortstop, they probably aren't searching quite as actively for a second baseman.
"We'll continue to try to upgrade at that position," said general manager Walt Jocketty, who said a deal for Milwaukee's Fernando Vina "certainly is not dead" but not likely.
"We feel we have some people in the organization who can fill that position," Jocketty said.
Adam Kennedy, the 1997 draft pick who hit .305 at Memphis and .278 at Arkansas while playing mostly shortstop, is an outside candidate to play second. Placido Polanco, David Howard and Pat Kelly also are in the running.
"I heard some outstanding reports about Kennedy at our organization meetings," La Russa said. "That got my antennae up."
There is no question the Cardinals sacrificed much of their future, notably reliever Looper and shortstop Ozuna, who hit .357 and stole 62 bases at Peoria.
Looper, the third player chosen in the 1996 draft, had 20 saves at Memphis last season.
"But you look at the (bullpen) depth we have in our organization, with what (Juan) Acevedo did last year and with us acquiring (Ricky) Bottalico. We felt it was a strength that we could deal from.
"Looper's got a chance to be a dominating closer someday. On the other hand, we think Acevedo does, too."
But Jocketty said, "(Ozuna) was the toughest one to give up."
The Cardinals still are somewhat in the hunt for free-agent pitcher Tim Belcher.
"He would be a nice guy to have," Jocketty said. "Ideally, you'd like to have one more guy. But with the bullpen we have, if we can get six or seven innings out of our starting pitching, we'll be all right."
La Russa is upbeat
An excited La Russa said, "We've made four positive moves. We've been fortunate because in Davis' case, he had to agree to come here. (Scott) Radinsky had to agree to come here. We were fortunate that Philadelphia agreed to a trade for Bottalico.
"I'd like to have Brian Jordan. I wish Brian would have signed for what Eric Davis signed for ($ 8 million for two years). We couldn't pay Delino $ 4 million a year.
"I'm really excited. Walt and our ownership have been careful about the moves we've made. We've been aggressive but with good sense. Fifty million (the Cardinals' payroll) doesn't go a long way these days."
Edgar Renteria
Shortstop
Age: 23 (Aug. 7, 1975)
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Height: 6-1
Weight: 180
Home: Barranquilla, Colombia
Personal: Single
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