Tigers gave up a lot for Renteria

The first interesting trade of the offseason went down Monday, when the Atlanta Braves sent veteran shortstop Edgar Renteria to the Detroit Tigers.

It’s an interesting move, and I put the advantage in the Braves’ corner on this one at first glance. Atlanta needed to upgrade its starting rotation, especially with youth behind John Smoltz and Tim Hudson. And they did that with Juir Jurrjens, a 21-year-old right-hander who was pretty darn good at times for the Tigers in the second half, filling in and going 3-1. And not only did he go 3-1, the Tigers won six of the seven games he started.

Jurrjens' lone loss came to the Indians in his debut, and he went seven innings that evening against a team that went on to win 96 games and a playoff series. He turned around and outdueled the Indians’ Fausto Carmona five days later in a 2-1 Tigers win.

Atlanta also received center field prospect Gorkys Hernandez, who hit .293 with 54 stolen bases and was named MVP of the Midwest League.

Renteria, a five-time All-Star, is still one of the best shortstops in baseball. He hit .332 with 12 homers and 57 RBI for Atlanta in 2007. He’s a solid defensive shortstop who has been around for 12 seasons yet is still just 32, meaning he likely has a few years until his range will diminish. He’s a career .291 hitter who will add pop to a Detroit lineup that needed it at times last season.

Carlos Guillen will move to first base for the Tigers. He set career highs in home runs (21) and RBI (102) in 2007, but had some issues at shortstop the past two seasons with 52 errors. Guillen says he likes the move.

But they gave up two of their best prospects to get him, the kind of trade that could be put in a different light a couple of years from now.