>>it means either Renteria couldn’t get anything better than the Giants’ offer even with time to shop it around, or he really really really wanted to play for the Giants and told his agents not to bother trying elsewhere.

This A/B analysis assumes Renteria had all the leverage. But what if Sabean said, "Take the deal the week of Dec. 1, or we'll look at other options (Hudson, trades, etc.)-- and we will be active at the winter meetings." I would hope Sabean did just that, if only to get a decision. Of course, A (Edgar couldn't get a better deal by waiting) and B (he wants to play for the Giants) might still have factored in.

Not that it matters much now. He's signed; let's hope he keeps working out hard (as reported in Schulman's story).

My only worry here is the weather. Renteria has tended to wilt in cold weather locales both offensively and defensively. The length and terms of the contract are favorable to the Giants. The team is either totally certain of the depressed market around baseball, or they're just convincing their targets that the market is way down. Either way, I believe it's a win for the organization on all three of these contracts so far.

So with the signing of Renteria, does that mean that Sabean has made all his significant free agent moves this offseason? There was an indication that the giants had around 12-20 million to spend and by my calculations this deal puts them at 14 million committed including Howry and Affeldt.

I will give Sabes some credit on Howry and Affeldt who should be upgrades and at least bring some much needed experience to a shaky bullpen last year. However, the lineup really hasn't changed and the defense has gotten worse. If he brings in Cantu we might be looking at the worst defensive infield in the majors. Renteria is a more expensive version of Castillo or Durham or any other player the giants have signed in the last 5 years. It truly amazes me when you compare all of the high priced free agent talent that has been brought in over the years, they are all essentially the same players!! Some have a little more power but not enough, some have a little more speed but nothing significant, and they all are past their prime and overpaid. Winn, Rowand, Durham, Roberts, Renteria, and Vizquel to me are all guys who should be batting 7,8,or 9 on good teams. On bad teams the best they offer is maybe batting 2nd. None of them are middle of the lineup bats which I thought was a high priority going into this offseason.

I don't see why we didnt sign Dunn or Burrell for a few million more to play first since either one of them can bat cleanup and make some significant contributions offensively and are just as bad defensively as Cantu. I have a revised projected lineup based on the players we have in place and assuming Sabes trades for Cantu:

1. Lewis LF
2. Renteria SS
2. Winn RF
6. Cantu 1B
6. Sandoval 3B
6. Molina C
7. Rowand CF
8. Burris 2B

That will be the order but the number to the left is where each of them should be batting. It should be interesting to see how bad this lineup can be both defensively and offensively. I think Sabean has made a huge mistake relying on Renteria to pick up where Omar left off at short and if he thinks that Sandoval is going to play third, Cantu at first, and Burriss or Frandson or Velez at second, the infield is clearly weaker then last year or possibly the last 25 years. Rowand in center is another nightmare and Lewis had his problems in Left so that means Winn in RF and Molina are the only two defensive positions we can feel ok about.

This is a good signing. Happy day for the Giants! Now let's see Sabaen work the magic with a blockbuster trade for a corner infielder with a middle of the order bat. The Giants have enough young arms that they can afford to make a deal. Ideally they can find someone young and relatively cheap in terms of a trade who has not really come into his own yet, but is just now starting to put it all together. Even better if this stellar young corner infielder is blocked by an established 1B/3B on their current club. Wishful thinking I know. Hard to do I know. But that should be the mission. (perhaps Evan Longoria has a long lost and otherwise unheralded twin???). Of course the other option is to trade for an established corner infielder who is in his prime, but this would assuredly cost the Giants even more dearly. Then the Giants need to sign one more FA starting pitcher (or trade for one). It doesn't have to be Sabathia or any other huge name, huge money sort of pitcher. In fact rather than a long term money-eating contract, a one year deal (at most two) for a starter would be good for the Giants. Just long enough to get Pucetas, Bumgarner, Alderson and company a bit more seasoning. If the Giants make these moves they will very much be in contention for the NL west next year. The only move Sabaen has made this offseason which seemed pointless was the release of Correia/Henessey in order to sign Howry. Not sure I would have spent the money on Affeldt either, but he seemed to be a substantial upgrade, so it at least made some sense. Sabaen deserves some kudos.

Of course, the Giants should continue to shop Zito, Roberts, Rowand, Molina, and Winn (in that order!). Trading any one of these players makes tons of sense right now if someone is willing to take them off our hands and the Giants don't have to eat too much of the contract (in the case of the first three) or we can get a decent prospect or two and drop the salary (in the case of the last two). I still think Sandoval should stay at C.

Pato, I don't see how you can say this infield is weaker than last year's. By position:
SS: Last year we were next to last in O. Renteria is likely to be somewhere between his '07 and '08 numbers, making him a clear upgrade offensively over Bocock/Omar/Ochoa/Burriss. R's D will be a little weaker than our '08 version, but the O will more than make up for it.
3b: You're joking right? Sandoval/Frandsen/)possibly Aurilia) is weaker than Rohlinger/Castillo/et al? There was no offensive production at all, except for the games Sandoval played 3b. A full year of Sandoval is very likely significantly better than last year.
2b, from my point of view is likely to be about the same as last year, although it is possible, if Burriss and Frandsen platoon they could be better than last year.
1b. Too early to tell as we don't know who will be our 1b, so I'll wait to comment until we know

Ego sometimes play into the decision. According to reports, Renteria said that Giants impressed him by being more aggressive in their pursuit of him than other teams.

Also, they probably had the basics agreed upon of what Renteria's agent was looking for but then the agent leaked out the figure to see if any other team would be willing to beat the Giants.

I think legally there is nothing wrong with them coming to basic agreement on the deal but waiting to see what happens with arbitration. They owe no legal right to the Tigers to get them a draft pick, just like they have no right to tell the Tigers not to offer him arbitration and make it easier for him to sign with a team. They chose to cut off ties with him by buying him out.

Now whether the collective bargaining agreement or any owner's agreement is violated, don't know about that.

The Giants had leverage in that Furcal is the better SS out in the market and could bid for him. If I were Sabean, I would be upfront with that but let Renteria's agent know that the Giants are not comfortable with the years/injury and thus is pursuing Renteria as our number 1 choice and basically ask Renteria's agent what it would take for the Giants to sign him right now, without going to other teams.

That's what Sabean has appeared to do previously, he would target who he wants and pay top dollar to get his man.

At this point, with the economy crashing (already one of the longest recessions in history and we didn't know about it until days ago), getting the money you were hoping for is likely better than waiting in the bush for a better deal. Hence, why his agent leaked the deal out to see if any other team would come in and say "wait, I can beat that deal", to throw one last line out there into the water to see if there was anybody out there like that. It's the internet era of the auctioneer saying "going once, going twice, ...." before saying "sold!"

But with teams waiting on Furcal, with Cabrera as another fallback option should Renteria do sign, and Wilson and Greene (now gone) and perhaps the Rays' Barrett (plus I think Miggie Tejada was mentioned as available from the Stros) as trade options, I guess other teams decided that they would rather wait until the music stopped than beat the Giants offer. After all, all the negatives people have mentioned for him is probably clear to the teams as well, but not all examined his GB/LD/FB ratios or K% or BB/K or BABIP to see that he's probably just a victim of bad luck last season.

I would also note that defensively, there is something bad about the Tiger's infield, for the 2005-2007 period, errors in the infield were at 115 where the league average was 100 (according to Bill James 2008 Handbook). Whatever causes that is probably affecting any defensive metric for him that you would look at for him. I think he will surprise on defense for us in 2009, after all, he's won two gold gloves before, so he's no slouch.

Renteria and Cantu might be the worst defensive left side of the infield in the entire game. Please, no Cantu.