Short Supply
Red Sox Restock Lineup By Signing renteria To Four-Year, $40 Million Contract
By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, Globe Staff
December 16, 2004
BARRANQUILLA, Colombia - Sleepless from a night of trans-Atlantic
phone calls
with his agent and the giddy anticipation of a move that will change
his life,
All-Star shortstop Edgar Renteria said yesterday what he "most wanted
was
respect and to be valued as a player," and was thrilled to be joining a
Red Sox
team that fought hard to sign him.
As important as the multimillion-dollar pay raise the Red Sox
offered in a
four-year, $40 million contract with an option for a fifth year, was
the dogged
determination with which Sox management wooed him away from St. Louis,
the
softspoken Colombian said in a lengthy interview in Spanish peppered
with
English here in his seaside hometown, where he spends December and part
of
January.
"When they want you and they try everything to get you - it
could be
economic, it could be calling and showing a real interest in you -
that's what
makes the difference," Renteria said, relaxing by his kidney-shaped
pool fed by
a mini-waterfall.
Still, the two-time Gold Glove winner acknowledged it was a
difficult
decision to make, above all for the emotional bond he feels with the
Cardinals
and St. Louis fans.
"I know the St. Louis team and fans wanted me to stay, but
[management] didn
't try hard to keep me - that's what I felt in the negotiations," he
said. Even
with his mind made up before he went to bed Tuesday night, "I could
hardly
sleep. I played six years with St. Louis and I considered it my home.
This is
the first day I wake up and I'm not with St. Louis."
He expects to fly to Boston today to meet Red Sox management and
formally
sign his contract over the weekend, before returning to Colombia.
Having played hard against the Sox during the World Series - "I
wanted to
beat them, but I couldn't," he said - he is looking forward to joining
the new
champions. "I always like to play on a winning team," he said.
Renteria is well known in this Atlantic port town for his daily
three-hour
workouts at a popular gym, his dedication to intense dominoes games
that last
late into the evening on balmy weekend nights, and a New Year's Eve
softball and
egg-toss tournament with old friends, where the losing team pays for
everyone's
beer.
"What I've seen of the [Sox] team during the World Series is that
they all
get along well," said Renteria. "They may look crazy with their long
hair, [but]
they play hard and on the field they're professional, while off the
field they
're open and warm. That's the way I like to both play and relax. I like
to enjoy
myself, tell stories, hang out with friends in the clubhouse before
playing. And
then on the field, I concentrate 100 percent."
Renteria, 29, will be entering his 13th year in professional
baseball. He
signed with the Marlins organization when he was 16, and in 1997 at age
22,
drove in the winning run for Florida in the 11th inning of Game 7 of
the World
Series against Cleveland. He has played on five playoff teams and is a
four-time
All-Star, the first Colombian to be an All-Star starter.
Asked whether he was prepared for life under a microscope in the
sports-crazy, hothouse environment that is Boston, the 6-foot-1-inch,
200-pound
three-time Silver Slugger award winner said he welcomed the scrutiny
and
attention of passionate baseball fans, and wasn't worried about the
legendary
pressure.
"I want [the fans] to like me, and the way to do that is to
respect them by
playing hard," he said. "The Boston fans are great - they love their
team and
that excites me to play better."
As to the public curiosity that is bound to arise over a newcomer
to the Sox
dugout, Renteria said with a laugh that he's "not going to give 100
interviews
after every game. I don't like to talk more than I should."
Displaying a mix of curiosity and apprehension, Renteria asked if
Boston was
"a nice city," and winced when informed it was much colder than St. Louis. He
said he was attracted by the fact that "there are many Latinos there,"
and said
having Fenway Park as home field was exciting. "It's one of the oldest,
where
everyone wants to play," he said.
Now that the Sox have signed Renteria, his countryman and fellow
shortstop
Orlando Cabrera must seek employment elsewhere, and rumors have
circulated that
he may replace Renteria on St. Louis's roster. Cabrera has himself said
Renteria
is a stronger overall player, but Renteria declined to answer when
asked why the
Sox would have preferred him over Cabrera. "I'm not taking anyone's job
and he's
not taking anyone's job. We're just two players who play the same
position,"
Renteria said.
As to their friendship, which dates to when the two played
against each other
as teenagers - and to when Cabrera's father signed Renteria with the
Marlins,
Renteria vowed, "It won't change anything between us."
Renteria figures the biggest change for him will be the different
style of
play in the American League. "I have to learn the pitchers and the
fields," he
said. "I have to physically and mentally prepare myself. It's good to
have
change."
Renteria is looking forward to taking part in the Sox' annual
battles with
the Yankees. "I watched the playoffs with the Yankees and it made me
really
emotional when [the Sox] won," he said. "I think it can be like that
every year."
The youngest of 14 children, only eight of whom survived,
Renteria is
recognized in his hometown for improving his circumstances, but not
straying too
far from his humble roots. His father died when he was a baby, and his
mother
supported her brood, who lived four to a room, as a street vendor.
Today,
Renteria has a house in Miami's South Beach and a two-story,
six-bedroom home
here with a neo-classical interior of marble nudes, Italianate
frescoes, and a
rock-faced indoor grotto. The whole family celebrates the holidays
together in
his mother's own well-appointed home nearby, but every Christmas for
the last
eight years, Renteria has donned a Santa's cap to deliver hundreds of
presents
and food to needy children. Last year, his chosen charity was for
children with
AIDS; this year he will take toys and aid to local flood victims. His
dream is
to set up a foundation to help street children.
Renteria and his elder brother Edinson, who played with Houston's
Triple A
team and was an infield coach with Atlanta, set up a baseball academy
for
Colombian youths about five years ago, with the hope of raising the
profile of
the sport in a country dominated by soccer fans. There are only three
Colombians
playing in the major leagues - Renteria, Cabrera, and Cabrera's older
brother,
Jolbert - but Renteria hopes to change that with future graduates. For
now, the
school is not-for-profit, but Renteria envisions a day when he will be
able to
sign promising players with top scouts.
Another aim of the academy is to improve the image of Colombia as
a country
"not just of drugs and violence," but also of world-class "sports,
music, and
literature. I want people to understand that like any other country,
Colombia
has good and bad things," he said passionately.
Renteria said he is looking forward to "learning to speak the
great English
they speak in Boston, getting to know the universities," and making new
friends
in the Sox dugout. He knows Manny Ramirez, who was once a neighbor in a
Florida
apartment complex, and David Ortiz from playing against him in the
Dominican
Winter League one season.
Asked how he will say farewell to St. Louis, Renteria replied,
"by thanking
them. My time in St. Louis was some of the best years for me, for the
support of
the team and the fans. It's an experience I won't forget."
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