| Doug Benton. 8th December, 2005 - 3:33 pm
 With the loss of Rafael Furcal earlier this week to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Braves found themselves with a gaping hole at both shortstop and the leadoff position in the line-up. Well, they took care of one of those problems today as they acquired All-Star shortstop Edgar Renteria from the Boston Red Sox for superstar third base prospect Andy Marte.
While on paper, this looks like a slam dunk for the Braves, it ends up being a pretty good trade for both parties involved. From the Braves’ standpoint, the pick up a bona fide shortstop, who will bring more power to the line-up, compared to Furcal, and keep up the high-level of defense set by Furcal. However, they don’t replace the leadoff ability of Furcal, which might be the next area the Braves go after this off-season.
In the deal, the Braves gave up top prospect Andy Marte, who was named the Braves’ top prospect by Baseball America. He is a power hitting corner infielder that has most experts proclaiming greatness for in the coming years. He gives the Red Sox a promising third baseman who they can groom while Bill Mueller and Mike Lowell finish out their careers.
In the end, this deal was done because the Braves came to a final realization that once top prospect Wilson Betemit is now better fitted to play third base when Chipper decides to retire instead of shortstop, the position he played while coming up through the system. Overall, I think the Braves won this deal by the slightest of margins because they were the team that got the bona fide player. A prospect is only as good as the team that wants him, so while Marte might very well become an All-Star caliber player it is Renteria who is already at that level. |
