Free Agent third baseman Adrian Beltre is no longer a free agent, after signing a 6-year, $96 million deal with the Texas Rangers.
I'm sure this move is getting Rangers fans very excited.
If I were a Rangers fan, I'd be upset.
Adrian Beltre isn't a $96 million dollar player. Not even if the deal were for 10 years. He's not worth that much money. The Rangers are wasting money that they could put towards a veteran pitcher, either through free agency or trade. Even if they had just cut the deal by $10 million, they'd have an extra $10 million to use on upgrading their team in another way.
Adrian Beltre isn't a team player. Notice how he waited for his $90-plus million deal to decide that he wanted to win. He could have wanted to win with the Oakland A's, a much improved, young team in need of good leadership and veteran presence, or the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, a team that, with him in their lineup, would have a much better shot at taking the division in 2011.
The Rangers, in making this signing, are disrespecting the face of their franchise, Michael Young, by making him move positions yet again. Making him move once to make room for Elvis Andrus is one thing. Making him move a second time in two years, that's disrespectful. I don't care that he says he's okay with it. Deep down, he's upset, and he should be.
Yes, Beltre is the superior third baseman. But that's like the Yankees resigning Mariano Rivera and then telling him they don't want him closing anymore. You just don't do that, especially to the face of your franchise, two times in two years.
This deal is going to come back to bite the Rangers in the butt, because the amount of money Beltre will be stealing from the organization isn't anything close to what he should earn for the down numbers he'll put up for the next few years. Beltre is a good player, but not $96 million good, and not when he's not motivated by a contract year.
Look back through his career. He's only ever once had a season that was as good, or better, than the one he put up for the Boston Red Sox in 2010, and that was his contract year in 2004 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which was a monster year. Since then, he hasn't come anywhere close to those numbers, being a bust in Seattle when the Mariners decided to give him a try. He couldn't put up what he did in 2004, and he couldn't stay healthy.
He'll be 32 at the beginning of the 2011 season. That means he'll be getting to the point of "old for a ballplayer" in the final couple years of his contract. And with age comes slower bat speed and lower numbers at the plate. Since when is it smart to pay a 37-year-old third baseman $18 million?
While this move will improve the Rangers if Beltre can stay healthy, it's going to cost them way too much than what the man is worth on the diamond. For the sake of the organization and it's fans, I hope I'm wrong, but I've had a bad feeling about Beltre since the beginning of the off-season, and for whatever team it was that decided to give him the $90 million-plus that he wanted.
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