Braves Send Renteria to Tigers for Prospects
The Atlanta Braves have shipped shortstop Edgar Renteria to the Detroit Tigers for right-hander Jair Jurrjens and outfielder Gorkys Hernandez. What a curious trade. This gives the Tigers two outstanding shortstops, and leaves the Braves with none.
Well, on the surface anyway.
Presumably the acquisition of Renteria allows the Tigers to move Carlos Guillen off short and… hmm, maybe replace Sean Casey at first base? Guillen did play 36 games at first in 2007, and his bat is plenty potent for the position.
Renteria isn’t the defender he was when he first came up with the Marlins — his range is a little below average these days — but he’s reliable. Offensively, Renteria was roughly on par with Guillen last season, but that was a career year. He’ll still produce at age 32, but probably more along the lines of what he did in ‘06 (.293/.361/.436).
On the other side, Atlanta presumably hands the shortstop keys to youngish Yunel Escobar, who enjoyed a nice rookie campaign filling in for Renteria when the latter was hurt. Escobar has skills, but it seems to me there isn’t a lot of upside with him. He’s shown good strike-zone judgment throughout the minors and in his brief time with the big club, but there’s not a lot of power to go with it and he turns 25 this week.
As for the players coming to the Braves, Jurrjens made his big-league debut in ‘07 at the ripe old age of 21. Baseball America had ranked him as Detroit’s #4 prospect coming into the season. The Tigers have a deep system, so that’s actually a very nice showing. Jurrjens’ upside is that of a mid-rotation starter and he’s basically big-league ready.
Hernandez came into ‘07 as the Tigers’ #7 prospect. Before he’d played full-season ball, BA called him “a natural leadoff hitter with a gap-to-gap stroke.” This year, Hernandez hit .293/.344/.391 in the Midwest League. That doesn’t jump out at you necessarily, but he played the season as a 19-year-old. He also stole 54 bases at a very high success rate and did a decent (not great) job of controlling the strike zone. In other words, there’s a lot to like here.
Bottom line: The Tigers appear to be gunning for an immediate return to the postseason, while the Braves are looking at the longer view. Detroit has taken a creative approach to upgrading its first base situation at minimal cost (remember, the Tigers have a deep system), while Atlanta has committed to two youngsters in Escobar and Jurrjens who will contribute immediately, plus a third in Hernandez who might have the upside of them all.
In the end, I expect this trade to help both clubs accomplish their goals. Nicely done on both sides…
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Tags: atlanta_braves, baseball, detroit_tigers, edgar_renteria, gorkys_hernandez, jair_jurrjens, mlb, yunel_escobarRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Hot Stove, Personalities, Transactions
4 opinions for Braves Send Renteria to Tigers for Prospects
Steve C
Oct 30, 2007 at 8:44 am
I really like what the braves are doing, instead of trying to cling onto their great 13 year run with both hands they are slowly rebuilding from within, and stealing good young players from other systems and really gearing up for another long run of dominance. They just need to figure out where to find that Maddux/Glavin/Smoltz combo thing again.
Geoff Young
Oct 30, 2007 at 11:54 am
The Braves are a very efficient organization (which is way more “Moneyball” than some folks would like to admit). They do a fantastic job of rebuilding on the fly, often finding internal replacements where needed, which means they’re never too far from contention. As long as their scouting and development folks keep doing what they’ve been doing for the past 15 or so years, they’ll be fine.
Rain Delay
Oct 31, 2007 at 9:22 am
Escobar will most likely get the starting job at shortstop, though he maybe pressed in the spring by Brent Lillibridge.
Geoff Young
Oct 31, 2007 at 10:00 am
Ah, thanks for the reminder. Didn’t realize Lillibridge was that close. Nice problem to have if you’re the Braves…
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