Rent-A-Shortstop (UPDATED)

(UPDATE #2 (5:10PM): Per Baggs, the report is "premature, or just plain wrong," which makes sense given the upcoming arbitration deadline. If the deal has been reached in principle, Baggarly opines the leak severely undermines the Giants' position to retain their pick as the Tigers can now offer Renteria arbitration and be assured of getting a pick. Very reminiscent of the Yankees situation with Gary Sheffield a few years back.)

(UPDATE (3:18PM): Jerry Crasnick tells MLB Trade Rumors that the report is false, according to Renteria's agent. Meanwhile, Schulman says that the Giants and Rafael Furcal remain in contact. Ordinarily, reports of a deal are summarily denied by player and team until the contract is finalized, but there seems to be some serious questions as to the validity of WFAN's original report. The Giants nation turns it lonely eyes to you, Andy.)

Judging by the free agent posturing, it had become clear that Brian Sabean was intent on cobbling together a team that could contend in the porous NL West. And, today, Sabes made his second strike in free agency, signing shortstop Edgar Renteria, according to WFAN in New York. Unconfirmed details of the agreement: 2 years at $18 million.

Off the top of my head, a quick Point Counter Point -

Point: There's little in the way of organizational depth at shortstop position in the system, so it makes some sense to supplement the team there through free agency.

Counterpoint: Manny Burriss presumably shifts to second base, diminishing his value.

Point: Two year deal.

Counterpoint: $9 million a year to a 33 year old coming off a season in which he accumulated a Neifi-esque .699 OPS. Oh, and the Giants also forfeit their second-rounder.

Point: Renteria has been historically terrible in the AL and and a solid hitter in the NL. He's a year removed from an .860 OPS with Atlanta.

Counterpoint: That doesn't explain his decline defensively last season, when he posted the fourth lowest Zone Rating in the majors.

Point: The entire Tigers team was caught up in a highly contagious malaise that affected team morale.

Counterpoint: Expecting players in their mid-30s to experience a major revival is the height Sabeanmetric cognitive dissonance.

I could go on (Renteria's second half turnaround or the fact that the cold hard statistics belie the common belief that he's a clutch hitter) but I'll leave it to you to for further consternation.

My favorite part of this deal is the deal the Giants didn't make: by not giving a long-term deal to Rafael Furcal, the team avoids committing a long term monies to a guy who could go all Edgardo Alfonzo on us on a dime. Furcal's coming off a 36 game season, and backs are the trickiest of body parts to project. Even Alfonzo was healthy the year before Sabean signed him.

Comment! Open Renteria consternation thread.

First Blood

The Giants strike first in free agency, signing Jeremy Affeldt to a 2 year, $8 million deal.

The deal strikes me as, well, really good. Not sure what Brian Sabean's angle is here, but this is a great short-term deal to a guy who is underrated, at least statistically. From FanGraphs:

Based on 2008, Affeldt has shown an entirely new skillset as compared to his major league career, adding a couple of ticks to both his fastball and curve, which have transformed him into one of the game’s best left-handed relievers. Because his curve is a legitimate second pitch, he shows almost no platoon split, and is equally effective against both LHB and RHBs. His stuff is clearly closer-worthy, and while he has no experience as the 9th inning guy, some smart team would be wise to give him a two or three year contract for setup man money and watch him blossom into one of the game’s best relief aces.

But before all of you go out and celebrate the rehabilitation of Brian Sabean's baseball grey matter, be warned - the needless long-term deal to Rafael Furcal may be forthcoming.

Dissident Dis

Evidently, Chris DeLuca of the Chicago Sun-Times was the lone writer to omit Tim Lincecum from his ballot altogether.

Our good friend Tim K. wrote him this letter in response:

from: Tim K [email redacted]
to: cdeluca@suntimes.com

Chris,

Hi, how are you? Before today I didn't know who you were, but I'm not sure if you know this, but you got written up in a few national publications earlier this morning following the announcement of Tim Lincecum's Cy Young award win. I noticed that not only did you not vote for him to win, but you didn't even rank him in your top 3. You totally omitted him from your ballot. That was a little bit curious to me, so I had a few follow up questions, if you don't mind. They are listed below:

1) Do you even like baseball?
2) How long have you been writing about sports? How did you get a job at the Chicago Sun Times? Are you related to someone who works there?
3) Is the stress of being one of the official Cy Young voters too much for you? In other words, are you somehow trying to get your privileges revoked?
4) Where have you been living for the last 8 months? How is it possible that wherever it was did not have access to Satellite Television or the Internet?
5) Are you from Florida? I ask because I'm wondering how difficult the Cy Young ballot was to complete as compared with the 2000 Presidential Election ballots. Must be close, if not harder.
6) Are you doing this for attention?
7) Okay - here's a fair one: Did you intentionally leave Tim Lincecum off of your Cy Young ballot?
8) Really?
9) Seriously?
10) What is wrong with you?

Thanks,
Tim K.
San Francisco

ConCyLation Prize

In the harsh world of Bay Area sports, for today, justice is served.

Congrats, Timmy.