Posted By Jeff Fletcher on November 6, 2010 6:53 pm

It’s too bad that Edgar Renteria has apparently decided not to retire. Would have been such a nice story to go out on top, with the last swing of his career being the homer to push the Giants toward a long-awaited World Series championship.

Instead, Renteria has apparently decided that his five good games in the World Series are more indicative of his talent than the other 72 games he played in the regular season. Remember, this is a guy who wasn’t even good enough to crack the Giants starting lineup in six of their first eight games this postseason.

So Renteria is going to sign with someone. (It won’t be the Giants, I don’t think. Brian Sabean went out of his way to be noncommital when asked about Renteria on Friday, not even saying if the Giants wanted him.) I’m guessing someone will give him a modest big league deal for $1 million or so, and he’ll show up in camp either to be a backup or to be a short-term plugger till some young hotshot shortstop is ready. Remember when the Rangers signed Omar Vizquel to be Elvis Andrus’ mentor? That sort of thing.

Renteria will be good at that job, I think. The Giants loved him, and one of the reasons was the way he handled his shrinking role. He was still a good clubhouse guy, helping out the young guys, and he didn’t complain.

I guess if Renteria wants to play, that’s his right. It’s just a better story when his last swing is a World Series homer.