His Smiles Make It An Amusement Park
By Gordon Edes
The Boston Globe
February 20, 2005
FORT MYERS, Fla. - The new Red Sox shortstop was trying to be
early to
training camp but got lost on the way, driving around for an extra 20
minutes
before stopping at the ballpark for directions to the minor league
training
facility where his new teammates were working out.
He also took a wrong turn yesterday morning coming off the
practice field,
and immediately found himself engulfed by fans eager for a first
closeup look.
He quietly signed everything thrust his way, looking up only when
someone called
out, "Welcome to Boston."
"Thank you," said Edgar Renteria, teeth flashing in
appreciation.
That kind of smile was not in evidence here a year ago at this
time, when an
embittered Nomar Garciaparra arrived and served notice that his last
days in
Boston might just as well be spent in prison stripes as in a Red Sox
uniform,
his pride wounded beyond repair by the team's courtship of Alex
Rodriguez.
But Garciaparra is in Arizona with the Chicago Cubs now, counted
upon to help
fill the void left by Sluggin' Sammy Sosa while working on a one-year
contract
that recoups only a fraction of the riches that could have been his in
Boston.
And in a dizzying round of shortstop shuffle, Renteria, who spent the
last six
seasons in St. Louis with the Cardinals, has displaced his fellow
Colombian,
Orlando Cabrera, with Cabrera moving on from Boston to Anaheim, having
replaced
the littlest Angel, David Eckstein, who wound up in St. Louis . . .
replacing
Renteria.
Who will be the last shortstop standing come October? The Sox bet
$40 million
in a four-year deal that it will be Renteria, who was barely out of his
teens
when he delivered a World Series-winning hit for the Florida Marlins in
1997,
before tapping to Keith Foulke for the last out in the 2004 Series,
when the Sox
swept Renteria's Cardinals.
"He's very special," said Sox newcomer Wade Miller, who as an
Astros pitcher
competed in the same division as Renteria. "He's one of the best
shortstops in
the league, and has become a much better hitter in the last couple of
years. He
definitely makes a difference on a ball club."
Far be it from Renteria to cast covetous eyes when the Sox are
presented
their bling-bling.
"I'm going to go through the line, too, and say, 'Where's my
ring?' " joked
Renteria, facing the TV cameras while successfully masking any
nervousness he
might have felt.
"Sorry about my English," he said as he finished. "If you all
spoke Spanish,
this would have been a lot better."
But his English was more than passable, and his message in any
language
resonated with good will and pleasure at his new surroundings.
"I was surprised," Renteria said about the Sox' decision to cut
ties with
Cabrera, who sparkled in every way in his three months in a Boston
uniform,
before they outbid the Cardinals for a player St. Louis manager Tony La
Russa
called as close to the total package as you can find.
"Cabrera is one of the best shortstops in the game right now,
which is why I
was a little surprised when the Red Sox tried to get me," said
Renteria, who has
spent nine years in the big leagues and still is younger than his
general
manager, Theo Epstein, having signed with the Marlins illegally at age
15 in
1992 and still nearly six months short of his 30th birthday. "But then
I didn't
think about it anymore. I said, 'Let's go. That's the team I want to
play with.'"
Since becoming an everyday player for a full season in 1997, the
same year
Garciaparra broke into the Sox' lineup, Renteria has proven durable,
playing in
at least 150 games five times in the last eight seasons, and 149 games
last
year. He has never had a major injury, which is why he has played 205
more
games than Garciaparra since '97, 1,190 to 985.
"I like to play every day," said Renteria, who said he has yet to
speak with
Terry Francona about where he'll hit in the order (the No. 2 hole is
likely) but
says he'll bat anywhere. "Like I said before, I like to win games."
The disappointment of being swept in the Series has been more
than mitigated
by where he's landed.
"That's the game," he said. "Last year, we lost. Now I'm with the
champions
of the world."
He hadn't seen Foulke yet, but when he does, he said, he'll
congratulate him.
"Now I'm lucky to be playing on the same team," he said. "He's
not going to
throw me out again."
Curt Schilling faced Renteria plenty in the National League.
"Consistency, on both sides of the line," Schilling said when
asked what
Renteria brings to the table. "Offensively, he's a much better hitter
with a big
run in scoring position than with the bases empty. I never liked to
face him in
a big spot."
And while others say that Renteria isn't as spectacular afield as
Cabrera,
Schilling rejects that notion.
"He and Orlando are very similar players defensively," he said.
"I've seen
both guys make phenomenal plays. And I don't know if anybody has more
range than
Edgar, either."
The sourness that seeped out of Garciaparra in his last months
was scrubbed
away by the effervescent Cabrera, who quickly became a lively part of
the
movable fiesta that was the Sox clubhouse.
"Everybody is different," Renteria said. "I'm a quiet guy. I
don't like to
talk much."
But there is the silence of misery that so often occupied
Garciaparra's
corner of the clubhouse, and the quiet dignity of a player called by La
Russa
"every body's favorite teammate."
"I'm excited," Schilling said. "You don't hear too much about
Latin players
being leaders of their ball clubs, in part because it's so difficult,
coming
from another culture. But he has that reputation. Orlando was the same
way when
he came here. He took charge of the infield. I like that, and I'm sure
Edgar is
the same way."
La Russa suggested last month on a visit to Boston that Renteria
is
unaccustomed to the type of spotlight he will be facing on a daily
basis with
the Sox. It will be a difficult adjustment for him, he predicted.
But on his first day, except for a couple of missed turns,
Renteria seemed
capable of handling whatever comes his way.
"No pressure," he said. "My job is to play the game. I'm ready to
play the
game. I'll be fine."
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