6
2011
Beltran Goes 1-3 In Debut, Slides Home To Score Run
An article by 
Carlos Beltran went 1 for 3 in his spring debut against the Red Sox today and scored a run – sliding into home plate for added effect though he clearly looked rusty running. He admitted being at 80% running the bases after the game, but said he felt great swinging the bat. It was a good first step for Beltran.
He is expected to play again on Monday and will be playing right field in about 6-8 days.
Beltran is entering the final year of his 7-year, $119 million dollar contract and yesterday, he spoke about those first six years with reporters. He is clearly still haunted when he thinks back to how the 2006 season ended and what happened the following season as reported by the Daily News.
“After that year, I thought we would be in the playoffs many more times,” Beltran says. “Unfortunately, something that I have no explanation for happened, and we were out of it. It was . . . ,” his voice trails off, and he shakes his head. “It was terrible. As bad as it was for the fans, it was worse for us. Honestly, there was no explanation for it. It happened to us, but we just couldn’t believe it.”
The talented centerfielder has missed significant time in the past two seasons thanks to a New York Mets medical team who botched the original diagnosis on his seriously injured knee, sent him out to play twice after giving him cortisone shots to numb his pain, and finally misdiagnosing him again and prescribing rest instead of the surgery he badly needed to repair his damaged knee.
No longer able to walk without severe pain, he seeked out a second opinion from the country’s leading orthopedic surgeon which revealed extensive damage and bruising that required surgery – a surgery the Mets were still unwilling to approve despite the recommendations of their own team doctor who had confirmed the prescribed course of action. You know the rest of the story and the hatchet job that ensued.
Despite the time missed, Beltran has already given the Mets more than what they paid for according to FanGraphs who writes:
Carlos Beltran has been worth $39 million more than his $119 million contract. Even if he doesn’t play at all in 2010, even if he goes all Roberto Alomar and ends his career with a plunge, Beltran will not waste away that excess value next year.
From 2006 through 2008, Carlos Beltran was the best player in the National League not named Pujols. His combination of hitting, batting eye, power, speed, baserunning smarts, fielding prowess and clutch hitting made him an extraordinary performer. It is very difficult to fault him for the Mets’ collapses in 2007 and 2008. In fact, he was one of the few Metropolitans to step up to the challenge.
For those of you who are into projections, Bill James projects that Beltran will bat .274 and hit 20 Home Runs with 74 RBI and 74 Runs Scored,
I look at those marks as his minimum baseline of production and expect something more along the lines of 27 Home Runs, 92 RBI, 89 Runs Scored while batting .283 this season.
Like most of you, I wish him the best and look forward to some positive developments in todays game and tomorrow.
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 30 | .583 | - |
| Phillies | 35 | 37 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Nationals | 34 | 36 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Mets | 27 | 40 | .403 | 12.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 48 | .314 | 19.0 |
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BELTRAN’S BACK.
Ok, in all seriousness, I look forward to seeing how he runs the bases and gets his legs into his swing.
Good article Joe. Beltran has been one of my favorite players on the Mets and I hope he is able to perform well this season. I for one do not ascribe to the “selfish Carlos” opinion that many Mets fans have. I believe he has been a valuable player and has contributed with his bat and on the field. His end to the 2006 season was a sad experience for himself and for Mets fans. It is an example of why players need to realize that post-season opportunities are rare and that they need to seize every opportunity when it is presented to them. Tthat stike three looking was a huge lesson to Carlos. It is apparent he has learned from it and suffered emotionally. I am willing to forgive him and hope that he can contribute in some way to finsih his career with a sense of personal pride and accomplishment.
It should also be pointed out that the Met medical staff also misdiagnosed Jose Reyes injury, allowed Niese to throw a pitch after feeling something and TWICE put players with concussions on a plane.
All of these misdiagnoses or protocol failures led to complete seasons lost and some went into the next year as well. The failure to even give Putz a physical before the trade was completed was the same as the failure to give Zambranno one. Instructing Putz to hide his injury from the Media, signing a 40 year old to play LF two years in a row who had suffered numerous injuries in his 30′s. Signing Castillo for four years before he underwent surgery on both knees, counting on El Duque holding up all season after he went down on the eve of the playoffs the year before, on and on and on.
They just never learn, never consider the risks, always look at things with the most optomistic view, make the same mistakes over and over and it’s all because they never have any other options. Going all the way back to when Gooden was told of his latest suspension they needed him to make one last start cause there’s never anyone in the farm system ready to come up and contribute.
It’s the same reason they risk a season by putting a rookie infielder in LF, a 20 year old in the bull pen, a 20 year old who hit .185 against RHP at 2B, thought they could get away with Maine and Ollie in 2010, GMJ in CF, Sheffield, Jacobs, Catalonotto. One 37 year old second basemen backed up by another 37 year old second basemen.
The lack of ever having any depth on this team has cost us time and time again.
A very sad litany indeed, along with Ollie’s injury or claim of one.
BINGO!
It isn’t Omar or the WIlpons that put us where we are.
Unless you want to call them out for trusting and hiring their really bad medical staff that seems to be lost when it comes to conditioning and diagnosing. Everyone hires a bad doctor at some point in their life and you rarely ever realize it until after it’s way too late!
Everyone blames Beltran for getting surgery before last season.
If the medical staff had diagnosed him correctly and allowed him to have the surgery during the 2008 season instead of forcing him to play on it and wait he might not be as bad off as he is today.
How much extra damage was done because they waited to fix the problem and then made it worse by throwing him out there where it could get worse?
Not a knock against Beltran but “Fangraphs” says we got our money’s worth? I think not.
It should be called FanLaughs.
It’s not Beltran’s fault he was hurt in 09 & 10, but we didn’t get our money’s worth either.
Clever. You come up with that yourself? What you “forgot” to mention is that the value fangraphs gives him during his contract was at it’s highest from 06-08, when he was healthy. You make it seem that they think he was valuable in 05, 09-10. But that’s what you do, twist twist twist.
Twist? No I think T Agee coined the phrase. I believe it was spin spin spin.
In any event considering Bayonne’s views regarding what FanGraphs is about I would not put much stock at anything he has to say about them.
I don’t love their idea of “value” because it converts WAR into dollars and I don’t love WAR. It takes into account defense, and rule #1 about UZR is how inaccurate it can be. I like the idea of comparing players on an all-around basis, and it stands to reason that so long as all the players are rated with the same system, there’s some validity there, but WAR has much longer to go and improve before I’m behind it 100%. That being said, even WAR and the value fangraphs places on it shows Beltran was not at all worth his keep in 2005, 2009 and 2010. Something that was very “conveniently” left out of the previous post.
I am no fan of War myself either or UZR for that matter.
The problem I have with UZR is it credits or discredits players based on the rest of the league. It takes into account what percentage of the league can make that particular play. So if Reyes, for instance, has a 7 UZR one year and a 5 the next, it doesn’t necessarily mean he himself was worse defensively. It may just be that the rest of the league got better. There’s no accounting for that. That’s why UZR is almost a worthless stat unless you have three solid years to look at. Reyes had a 6.4 UZR/150 from ’06-’08. That’s enough to tell me that he’s a great fielding SS.
X and MNJ, By any chance have either one of you picked up the AA 2011 Mets Annual? ACTA Publications has it. About $20. Great read.
Haven’t yet. Link?
Amazinavenue.com or actapublications.com
Actually, the biggest problem with UZR is it’s too subjective. It relies on a scorer looking at it from a sight line that changes from one stadium to the next. You end up with the same problem as fielding percentage, it ends up depending on the opinion/view of the guy watching it. It falls prey to the “Jeter effect”.
So, Reyes’ UZR may have decreased not because the rest of the league got better or he got worse, maybe the guy measuring the UZR got a crappier seat than he had in Shea.
Also true.
I don’t know how they configure those numbers but I find it hard to believe that we got 119 M worth of ML productivity. I guess I would prefer 1 OK, 1 very good and 2 fantastic years over 7 above average one’s cause the great one’s certainly advance the cause a lot more than above average one’s do but it just goes to show how iffy these 7 year 100 M contacts are. If you can’t be sure with one of the greatest CFers of all time with 3 of the 7 years in his prime….
Well, basically, from 06-08, Beltran was worth more than twice what he got paid those years, nearly $70 million. Again, that’s based on WAR. These last two were lost, and 2005 was merely OK. That’s how they roll.
Not to be Captain Obvious but………..”Carlos Beltran went 1 for 3 in his spring debut against the Red Sox today and scored a run – sliding into home plate for added effect though he clearly looked rusty running”
It was the first game situation he ran in 6 months OF COURSE he would be rusty – lol