Hard to believe that the Giants won world championship more than a week ago; that really happened, right? Parade, Brian Wilson on The Tonight Show, T-shirts … if this turns out to be a dream, I’m going to be pissed. Meanwhile, our World Series MVP finally gets to head back to his homeland. Kind of ironic that Cliff Lee will spend the off-season welcoming attorneys with satchels full of cash, while the guy who tagged him for the Series-clinching home run, Edgar Renetria, will be mulling retirement. The Giants declined to exercise their option on his $9.5 million contract last week.
Renteria is expected to arrive Thursday in Barranquilla, Colombia, where his family lives. And there was a huge homecoming party planned for him there, but Renteria has asked that it be canceled. There are, he says, more important ways to use that money. Renteria’s statement to the governor of the Atlantico department, via El Tiempo:
“I thank the Mayor Alejandro Char, Governor Eduardo Verano and especially the great sports fans for their intention to organize a tribute to my arrival in Barranquilla, but I feel that at this moment there are more important things in my homeland.”
The shortstop made his request about the tribute from Miami on Tuesday.
Colombia, which has the second-largest population in South America after Brazil, suffered terrible floods in the northern part of the country this past April, which is the middle of their winter. And the devastation has continued through the rainy season, as an estimated 1.1 million people have lost their homes and/or livelihoods, according to the Red Cross. There are still people there living in two feet of water in some places, and the death toll has exceeded 100. And according to Red Cross rescue director Carlos Ivan Marcos, more flooding may occur through January.
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Renteria: Skip party, aid Colombian flood victims [Yahoo Sports]
With countrymen in mind, Renteria says no thanks to party [Big League Stew]
Renteria asks fans to support Colombia’s flood victims [Colombia Reports]
