32-year old righty swinging Edgar Renteria was brought in by the Tigers in a trade in the off-season with Atlanta to take over as the starting SS with Carlos Guillen moving to 1B. Renteria played in 124 games for the Braves last season and he was 164 for 494 (.332 avg, .860 OPS) with 87 runs scored, 12 homers, 57 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. Renteria makes his money with his bat as his range was sub par last season while he made 11 errors in 121 games at SS. Look for Renteria to continue to put up good numbers with his stick in 2008.

28-year old switch hitting Ramon Santiago will back up Renteria this season. He played in 32 games for the Tigers last season and he was 19 for 67 (.284 avg, .712 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 7 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Santiago showed about average range at shortstop and he only made 2 errors in 31 games at SS.

It’s possible that if Edgar Renteria suffered a serious injury that the Tigers would consider moving Carlos Guillen back to SS. Guillen played in 132 games at SS for the Tigers last season and he made 24 errors while showing below average range.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2008 SEASON: B