FanPost

Where's the Outrage -- Renteria Edition

First attempt at a fanpost, because usually most of what I'm thinking has already been addressed.

However, I am surprised that the "Renteria was hurt" storyline hasn't received more attention here. I saw the fanshot but still, unless I'm missing something, it seems to me that it deserves a post all of its own.

The main crux of the story seems to be that we should completely disregard Edgar's production last year because of his injury. And in a vacuum, that is a perfectly reasonable argument. But two aspects of it have me angry enough to cancel my season tickets (if I didn't live 3000 miles away and could afford season tickets)

First, we learn that he started feeling pain in Spring Training, and knew all year (as did the coaching staff) that he was unable to swing the bat or throw the ball at full capacity. So sure, let him start the season as the everyday shortstop. But after one month, two months, three months of soul-crushing ineffectiveness, wouldn't it occur to someone, at some level of the organization, that the positives produced by his gamer-ness might be somewhat eclipsed by his inability to hit a baseball? As he so eloquently put it, "hitting's not easy." Yet there he was, in September, in the thick of the pennant race, playing ahead of healthy ballplayers who, statistically speaking, were far more likely to help the ballclub. This is mind-numbing stupidity.

However, this pales in comparison to Bochy's declaration that Edgar will be the starting shortstop. From what I can see, the rationale is that, in 1997, he got the game winning hit in the World Series, and that "he's a winner." Perhaps we ought to lure Joe Carter out of retirement (maybe I shouldn't be suggesting that, on the off-chance that the front office is reading this).

Maybe we are all just numb to this, and on the heels of so many bone-headed moves over the last five (or more) years, this is just more of the same. But to me, this is a whole new level of managerial malpractice. Would Juan Uribe, as the every day shortstop, have made a 4-game difference in the wild card race last year? None of us know. But I think we can say with confidence that it is at least possible that, in 2010, Uribe or another option at shortstop COULD be more valuable to this team.

Incredibly, our manager, on the strength of a game winning hit 13 seasons ago, is not even willing to consider such a possibility really makes me question how committed he is to putting the best team on the field.

And that is as disheartening as anything else that has happened this offseason.

This FanPost is reader-generated, and it does not necessarily reflect the views of McCovey Chronicles. If the author uses filler to achieve the minimum word requirement, a moderator may edit the FanPost for his or her own amusement.

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