Renteria vs Cabrera

WEEI (actually its Glenn "fat b******" Ordway most of the time), has been beating up on Theo the last couple of days. One of the common gripes they have is that Theo totally blew the Renteria signing, he didn't do his homework yada yada yada. Well, I went to the Day by Day database at Baseball Musings and pulled up their career numbers.

There are a couple of things that I remember before the Renteria signing:

1. Cabrera kept on saying that he wanted Renteria money
2. Renteria was the top rated shortstop on the open market
3. The fans wanted Orlando to stay
4. Renteria was the gold glove shortstop of the NL.

So, lets take a look at their numbers when you compare them side by side:

Renteria vs Cabrera 1st 3 years of their careers

Player	Year(s)	B. Avg.	G. Started	AB	Runs	Hits	2b	3b	hr	RBI	BB	K's
Renteria	1996 - 98	.288	381	1565	237	450	57	8	12	114	126	254
Cabrera	1999-2001	.259	378	1430	159	370	89	12	35	190	86	120

Renteria had a BA 20 points higher, scored 1/3 more runs, had 80 more hits and 40 more walks. Cabrera was only better in the power numbers and his strike out rate was lower.

Now lets look at the 5 years immediately before the signing.

Renteria vs Cabrera 2000 - 2004

Player	Year(s)	B. Avg.	G. Started	AB	Runs	Hits	2b	3b	hr	RBI	BB	K's
Renteria	00 - 04	.293	727	2772	405	812	171	7	60	388	255	339
Cabrera	00 - 04	.270	746	2855	344	770	194	13	61	349	207	253

Again we see higher batting average, runs hits, RBI and walks. Cabrera did better on the power numbers (except HR's). The only area that Orlando really beat Edgar was in the strike outs. If I am Theo and I have a player who is demanding Renteria number but isn't putting up Renteria numbers, don't I go for Renteria? Why, settle for second when you can have 1st?

So, so far I haven't seen anything that makes me want Orlando over Renteria. So, let's look at their 2004 numbers, maybe we'll find something there?

Renteria vs Cabrera 2004

Player	Year(s)	B. Avg.	G. Started	AB	Runs	Hits	2b	3b	hr	RBI	BB	K's
Renteria	2004	.287	148	586	84	168	37	0	10	72	39	78
Cabrera	2004	.264	158	618	74	163	38	3	10	62	39	54

Well, no luck there as Edgar has the higher average, more runs, more hits, almost even in doubles, same number of home runs and walks, but has more RBI's. Now if you look at these numbers really hard, it even appears that this is a normal type of year for Renteria.

To sum up my feelings, Theo would have been foolish to have not gone after Edgar. 20 / 20 hindsight showed that Edgar couldn't handle the Boston pressure but you couldn't have been sure of that before hand. So, drop this Renteria crap, Theo made a decision based on good solid reasoning and I am tired of hearing how he screwed up by not going after Orlando.