Monday, October 29, 2007

Tigers get Renteria from Braves

Just like last year when the Tigers acquired Gary Sheffield almost immediately after finishing the World Series, Dave Dombrowski moved quickly today and acquired Edgar Renteria from the Braves in exchange for two of the organixation's best prospects - Jair Jurrjens and Gorkys Hernandez. Edgar Renteria was among the best offensive shortstops in baseball last year batting .332/.390/.470 and is a pretty good defensive player. He doesn't always hit quite as well as he did this year but his lifetime .291/.349/.407 stat line is pretty good for a middle infielder. There is no question that Renteria is a solid acquisition who should help the team a lot this year. The downside is that he is 32 year old.

Given the age of their starting line-up, I think it's important that they try to win now so I'm not shocked at this trade. They gave up a heck of a lot though. Jurrjens compiled a 3.20 ERA and 94/31 K/BB ratio for AA Erie in 2007 at the age of 21. He also looked impressive over a brief stretch for the Tigers at the end of the year. Assuming Andrew Miller is no longer technically a prospect, JJ was probably one of their 2 best prospects along with 2007 first round pick Rick Porcello.

Hernandez is an exciting 19 year old outfielder who was probably their second best positional prospect (behind Cameron Maybin). He batted .292/.344./.391 with 54 stolen bases for West Michigan in 2007. He is also reportedly an excellent center fielder.

So this was a big trade, one of the biggest prospect for veteran trades the Tigers have made in recent memory. If Renteria helps them get into the playoffs the next couple of years, it will probably be worth it. It could also come back to really bite them though. I'll say more later. We'll be talking about this one for a long time.

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