TOWER GROVE — The agent for shortstop Edgar Renteria called a report from a New York sports radio station that the shortstop had signed with the San Francisco Giants “completely false.” Barry Meister, an agent for the free agent shortstop, said he didn’t mind refuting a “false report” and he went on to say that nothing was imminent with any of the half dozen teams that have shown interest in Renteria.

“I don’t really have a read on the pacing of it,” Meister told me. “There are stops and starts.”

Renteria’s agents have engaged in negotiations with the San Francisco, but nothing is close, not even the two-year, $18-million agreement reported by WFAN. How this impacts the St. Louis Cardinals plans this offseason is two-fold: First, the Cardinals are one of the six teams that have remained in pursuit of Renteria this winter and, secondly, the Cardinals don’t plan to make a move on Renteria until after the deadline for teams to offer arbitration to their free agents.

This has been covered in the paper and discussed in here: Renteria is a Type-A free agent and therefore signing him before the arbitration deadline would send the Cardinals’ first-round pick to Detroit. San Francisco, however, would have to send its second-round pick.

The new CBA offers that little wrinkle for teams with picks in the top half of the first round.

It is highly unlikely that Detroit, having bought out Renteria’s option for 2009, would then risk a higher salary by offering him arbitration. The Cardinals, and other teams like the Cardinals, can just then wait for the deadline to pass and then sign Renteria without losing a pick.

I asked Meister if he was understanding of the Cardinals’ preference here — it would, after all, expand the pool of teams interested in Renteria. He said not only was he understanding but his relationship with the Cardinals is such that “they wouldn’t be surprised.” Just as he did when Renteria signed with Boston, Meister said he would “double-back” to the Cardinals before the shortstop signs elsewhere.

Meister, after all, represents pitching coach Dave Duncan and his son, outfielder Chris Duncan.

Henry Schulman, Giants beat writer for the San Francisco Chronicle has a blog entry on this from the Giants’ perspective. The headline alone is worth the click.

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