Edgar Renteria apparently needs a reality check.
With his contract set to expire at the end of the year, Renteria turned in an outstanding postseason both offensively and defensively. He won the 2010 World Series MVP trophy and helped the Giants win their first-ever championship in the city of San Francisco.
Now he feels disrespected.
The Giants offered him a one-year contract worth $1 million, which he believes is a slap in the face.
“That offer from the Giants was a lack of respect. A total disrespect,” Renteria told ESPNdeportes.com Thursday from Colombia.
“To play for a million dollars, I’d rather stay with my private business and share more time with my family,” he said. “Thank God I’m well off financially and my money is well invested.”
Although his comments above are incredibly smug (One million dollars? Ha! I wouldn’t get out of bed for a million dollars!), Renteria is a class act. He’s a consummate pro, he gives to charity and he’s great teammate according to those who have played with him.
But is he serious? He has one good postseason and now he wants the Giants to pony up? One million may look like a slap in the face after he helped them win a World Series but let’s keep in mind that the Giants already gave him a two-year, $18.5 million contract in 2008 and he did absolutely nothing until the 2010 postseason. He couldn’t hit, the team was constantly forced to move guys around because he was never healthy and his range at shortstop was a joke. (Hit one to Edgar’s left and consider it a base hit.)
In 460 at bats in 2009, Renteria hit .250 with five home runs and 48 RBI. In 2010, he played in only 72 games because he was hurt all the time and finished with just three home runs, 22 RBI and 26 runs scored.
Now he feels disrespected? Come on. Look at those numbers above and keep in mind that he was the third-highest paid player on the Giants’ roster over the past two years behind Barry Zito and Aaron Rowand. He stole money from them for two years before finally putting on a show in the postseason and while the Giants should be grateful for that, they shouldn’t bend over and take it up the rear end from a 35-year-old shortstop who’s on his last legs.
He’s fortunate he got hot when he did or else he wouldn’t have the right to feel disrespected (not that he does now).
Jon Kitna has played pretty well since taking over for Tony Romo, and this week he has a nice matchup with the Redskins, who have struggled mightily against the pass this season…Josh Freeman should continue to put up solid fantasy lines the rest of the way. This week he has the Lions, who did play well against Aaron Rodgers for a half last week. Still, this is a secondary that has given up 20+ to Jon Kitna, Donovan McNabb and Mark Sanchez in the last eight weeks, so Freeman should finish with good stats…Jason Campbell is probably available on your waiver wire (or was earlier in the week) and has a terrific matchup with a reeling Broncos defense that has given up 1.8 pass TDs per game this season.