6
2011
The Question Of Whether Or Not To Trade Beltran
An article by Craig Lerner
Bill Price of the Daily News says that Mets fans should appreciate Carlos Beltran while we still can, and points out the arguments from both sides of Beltran’s tenure in New York..
The folks who dislike Beltran will single out his at-bat against Adam Wainwright that ended the 2006 NLCS and ended with the bat on his shoulder – as if a swing and a miss would’ve been easier to take. His lost 2009 and 2010 seasons to injuries will also come up.
The pro-Beltran people will point to his incredible years in 2006, 2007 and 2008. They will point out his numbers in the NLCS before Game 7, they will point out how he came back in 05 after the horrible collision with Mike Cameron and will remind everyone he hit the last Met homer at Shea Stadium to tie Game 162 before our pen gave away the game and season one last time.
Price also states that if the Mets do move Beltran before the deadline, the trade will not be about him, but about starting the process of someday making the Mets world champs again, something Beltran could never do while he was here.
Meanwhile, MetsBlog shared comments Jon Heyman made on WFAN this morning:
“I think it’s less and less likely Carlos Beltran will be traded.” According to Heyman, the Mets were once willing to pay a portion of Beltran’s contract if it helped to move him. However, because he’s doing so well, and the team is winning, and because no team is willing to pay much for a rental player, it makes more sense for the Mets to keep him.
What are your thoughts? Do you trade Beltran, who along with Reyes, is a big reason the Mets are still contending? Or do you keep Beltran and hope the Mets continue to play good baseball?
About the Author: Craig Lerner
I'm a data analyst and researcher for a leading news agency who loves life and is hooked on the Mets. I love following the Amateur Draft and have a particular fondness for the Mets Minor Leagues who I follow each day. Give me a cold beer, a summer day, and a Mets game, and I'm good to go.
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We would lack punch without him in the line-up, he is way too important. Keep him!
KEEP CARLOS BELTRAN. trade bums like pelfrey…
I’m really beginning to think along those very same lines Alex, especially the second part.
He’s part of the reason we are where we are now. The only reason you play baseball is to win, we are winning now and you don’t destroy your chances for winning now in order to win later because there’s no guarantee that will happen either.
This trade talk is stupid. If we fall out of the wild card race by July 31 that’s different but who knows? Maybe we’re even 5 games OVER by then and right smack in the middle of it.
Being in the race is exactly what’s it’s all about. You can build for the future AND fight for the wild card at the same time. I have ZERO interest in moving Beltran for a prospect that may not even make it or get injured himself.
It’s all about going for it. This team may even be built to win now albeit adding some pitching would be nice. We will see.
the majority of people discussing these potential trades were doing it based on the assumption that the mets would not actually be in the WC race at the time. But since we are getting quite close to trade season, and they likely are still going to be (at least nominally) in the race, then certainly the situation is different.
If they are within a couple games and charging, you keep him no matter what.
If they fall apart and are 10+ behind 2 teams, then trade him to help build for the future.
Some look at July 31st as the trade deadline but the reality is the real trade deadline is August 31st. Unless the Mets just completely collapse by July 31st my guess is that Beltran with how he has played this year will simply not be traded by July 31st but if by August 31st the Mets are not serious contenders I would expect the Mets to trade Beltran and get something for him even if that something is salary relief that can be then used to say possibly resign a Jose Reyes.
We are in Wild Card contention. Keep him.
The question is not so much whether the Mets should trade Beltran as much as what they might get in return. If a contender prefers the experience Beltran will provide as opposed to going with a younger player and are willing to give up some talent in return, then this could be a trade that could benefit both teams. Look at the trades the Mets made in the past giving up Izzy for Billy Taylor or Melvin Mora for Mike Bordick. Just as an example if the Red Sox wanted Beltran for either Josh Reddick or Ryan Kalish plus either Michael Bowden or Andrew Miller, the Mets would be wise to consider that deal. Even though neither player coming back is having a good year in AAA and can’t be considered a top prospect any longer, they are worthy of a shot in the big leagues and may yet develop into the stars they were once predicted to be. I don’t see trading Beltran for a 20-year old grade B prospect.
Even though I have no proof other than my completely ridiculous opinion, Carlos Beltran is soft, selfish and should be traded despite all logic dictating that he has been an amazing player during his even injury plagued contract.
Keep him until the end of the season. You’re not going to get anyone for him who would be anything more than a warm body. Yes, we get nothing for him when he walks, but we get next to nothing for him if he’s traded. Take his hitting and see if it can help carry the team into contention.
I thing they should keep him. They’ll probably talk about a short-term (2-3 Year) extenstion.
I can see both sides…One on hand it seems like we have some remote possibility of getting the Wild Card, so you don’t want to unload one of your only big bats.
On the other hand, we had a 100% healthy Beltran, Wright, and Reyes in 2007 and 2008, and we lost every game down the stretch en route to epic collapses. So somehow the argument that we must keep these players for the “stretch run” loses a little steam.
If we had won anything with these players, I’d feel a lot differently.
Lets try a little balancing act here….
Option 1: Keep Beltran. Yes he is a big part of the reason we win so that said what do you do? You can extend him or resign him later. Both require his agreement no? Does he? Does he extend now and leave money on the table he might get in FA? If you want to resign him it doesn’t matter if he finishes the season with us or someone else unless he is willing to extend his contract now does it?
Option 2: Trade him for something later then go back to option 1 and resign him to whatever it is you were willing to pay in an open market.
So that leaves you with the following:
Convince him to sign now and take the risk his knees hold up.
Trade him now while you can still get something This year be damned and see you in 2012 Pay little more for him as penalty of getting two or three kids later on the open moarket if he gets there.
Trade him and say Thanks for the Memories Carlos, Please don’t make us regret what we asked for!
My feelings are If we can’t make the Playoffs without Beltran then we probably aren’t making the playoffs with him.
And unless he is willing to sign an extention now, I would rather get some kids and pay the same I would have if I keep him and let him test the market.
The reason why it is so enticing to trade a player in his walk year is if you REALLY want him that bad you will probably pay market value for him anyway so you might as well trade him for something and then pay the same piper anyway!
Beltran will have his suitors but who knows how much they will be willing to pay.
It’s not like Reyes who will likely start a bidding war in the open market.
At least by keeping him we get first crack.
We wouldn’t need first crack to resign Beltran so it’s worth the risk to trade him regardless if you want to keep him or not.
The price will pretty much be the same so it’s about any extra value you can get for him while writing the check!
If they can get something worthwhile, they should trade him. The teeam is enjoyable, but they are not catching Atlanta. The idea is to improve the roster for next year, not finish closer to the Wild Card than someone else.
As if next year and beyond is GUARANTEED.
This is what the season is all about, if you’re in it you do what you can to stay in it. Unfortunately you think Atlanta is uncatchable and that’s okay, that’s you.
But if you want to move Beltran than guarantee me that the Mets WILL be contenders 2, 3, 4, years down the road AND guarantee that won’t suffer injuries 2,3, 4 years down the road too. If you can guarantee both those things i STILL am not gonna destroy the season by trading my best hitter in the middle of the rest. Nice faith.
Faith? First give me a good product, then let’s talk about faith. I would not believe in a religion if I thought it was mediocre. It would have to be worth having faith in, to get my dime. I don’t think this team is good enough. And I don’t want to trade Beltran for some clown. If there is nothing good, keep him. But if there is something good, you roll the dice. No one can guarantee next year or the year after, but if you run an organization you have to plan.
Boy I sure wish the Phillies thought like some Mets fans think now….and gave up early in 07 and 08 when it really looked like the Mets were a lock both years. I wish they started to unload salaries back then too then we would have made it both years
That would have been nice right?
What was the Phillies payroll at that time? How many expiring contracts did they have? Did the owner have financial problems that was going to adversely affect their payroll? Where were the Phillies those years in relation to us now?
don’t worry about it…they WON
Ya, let’s ignore the fact that it was a completely different situation than we are in now.
Not even close to the same situation. On July 6th, 2007, the Phils were 4.5 games out of the division, not 10.5. On July 6th 2008, they led the division. They had real playoff shots, not pipe dream shots.
Mets are 6 1/2 out of Wild Card. I KNOW you know we’re talking about the Wild Card but you decided to use the division standing because it’s makes your argument sound better.
But I KNOW you know we’re talking about the Wild Card.
And a pipe dream huh? Okay as long as you GUARANTEE Mets will be contenders again 2, 3, 4, years down the road and you guarantee there’ll be no injuries than blow everything up like you’re HOPING FOR.
So if the Mets are 6 1/2 or 5 1/2 out of anything 3 years from now do you blow that up too and consider it a pipe dream?
I have a feeling your response will be 100% different because they would be 6 1/2 with a team Alderson put together by then most likely
So this is a pipe dream but you think blowing everything up now will mean we WILL contend easily in 3 years. Without fear of taking risks.
yeah ok..go back in your hole
“Mets are 6 1/2 out of Wild Card. I KNOW you know we’re talking about the Wild Card but you decided to use the division standing because it’s makes your argument sound better.”
With 4 teams in front of them.
“I KNOW you know we’re talking about the Wild Card but you decided to use the division standing because it’s makes your argument sound better.”
No, it points out how different the Phillies’ situation was to ours.
“And a pipe dream huh? Okay as long as you GUARANTEE Mets will be contenders again 2, 3, 4, years down the road and you guarantee there’ll be no injuries than blow everything up like you’re HOPING FOR. ”
Like the way you are guaranteeing the Mets will play in October this year? And do well?
“So if the Mets are 6 1/2 or 5 1/2 out of anything 3 years from now do you blow that up too and consider it a pipe dream?”
If they are in second place for the division or the Wild Card 5 1/2 games out with a roster full of talent and a bright future, then it wouldn’t be a pipe dream.
Sadly Bayonne, everyone had already made up their minds before the season started that the Mets couldn’t make the playoffs. They felt it wasn’t a good team because the Mets had two losing seasons in a row. We had no talent, Omar was a moron, and it would take YEARS before we would start winning again because of his mistakes.
But that’s not true at all. what everybody forgets is that the last two years the Mets were killed by injuries. Which is they played bad the last two years. It wasn’t that we had no talent, it was that all of our talent was on the DL!
Any objective person would have realized that if this team avoided any major injuries that they would have had a very good shot at making the postseason. With Reyes, Wright, Beltran, Davis, Pagan, Bay, Niese, Dickey, K-rod, and eventually Santana, the Mets have a very talented roster, despite what some people say.
The Mets chances of making the postseason now aren’t a “pipe dream”, it’s very realistic, let me explain. The Mets rank 4th in the NL in RS WITHOUT Wright, and Bay not hitting. So what happens when Wright gets back, and when Bay does start hitting? I’ll tell you, the Mets will have a very good offense, one of the best in the league.
We are middle of the pack in ERA, WITHOUT our ACE pitcher, so when he gets back, we’ll have a good pitching staff too.
I think a team that is going to have one of the TOP lineups in the league, AND a good pitching staff, chances of making the playoffs are very REALISTIC, and not a “pipe dream.” And I’m not worried about the other teams ahead of us, as long as we keep winning, we’ll catch them because it’s still early.
The season is more than halfway over. When is it no longer early? We’re less thatn four weeks from the trade deadline. When does it start becoming late?
The Mets have 76 games left. That’s plenty of time to be able to catch a team 6 games ahead of us, and we have a lot of games left againt the Braves too.
It’s not just the Braves the Mets are battling. Pittsburgh and Arizona are ahead of them and there’s three our four teams within a handful of games the Mets also have to stave off. That’s the whole issue here. Unless you’re in second place, directly behind the leader, it’s not so much how many games out you are, it’s more about how many teams you have to jump.
What if the Mets win six in a row against the Braves? But the D-Backs and Pirates win five times? Mets are now in third place. Great. Six straight and not much closer.
As long as we keep winning, we’ll catch the other teams. Don’t worry about them, just worry about us.
The “keep winning” is that part that concerns me.
It doesn’t concern me.
Good. There’s a part of me that wishes I was a little more like you.
You KNOW I’m talking about Wild Card? I don’t even understand what that means. I’m talking about the division. That’s why I said division. Why do you even bother coming to a blog site if you can’t read or write the truth?
He needs to sign up for a reading comprehension course. An INTENSIVE reading comprehension course. Maybe a whole slew of them. That whole hooked on phonics thing hasn’t done anything for him.
Maybe we could all chip in on it for him. Find him some coupons or something.
This is tiresome. So the GM who is entrusted with putting together a roster that can contend on a regular basis should sit around wishing and hoping because the overachieving mets are ONLY six and a half games out with assets in hand and the trade deadline approaching. That is why they don’t ask fans to be G.M.s. Management is not about wishing and hiping. If it was Omar would still have a job.
well if we lose the rest our our games this week you just may be proven right but we have a game tonight and if we win tonight that’s 4 in a row.
Yeah, Mets have no chance, let’s break it up now, make Citi Field a ghost town and lose money when we could be fighting for the Wild Card. And hey…if we break it up now we are GUARANTEED that we will be in another race in 3 or 4 years. Guaranteed (sarcasm)
The Mets have a pretty good team and have lots of games left against their own division so let’s see how it plays out because frankly i’m not too impressed with the Braves. Mets have had good pitching so far almost this whole season and are 10 games over .500 since their 5-13 start.
But that’s a figment of our imagination right?
They are ahead of the Braves in runs scored, The Mets team Batting AVG is .264, the Braves – .237
That’a a HUGE difference and since there’s almost 30 points difference you can assume the Braves team OBP is worse too, and it’s VERY bad. Mets have better team SLG pct. too
Mets are 1st in the league in stolen bases, the Braves? They’re last and stolen bases are VERY, VERY important ATL does have a better team ERA but the Mets have been pitching better of late aside from Gee and Niese’s recent bad starts I think they both will be fine.
But it’s a pipe dream right? The Braves are just really, really, really sooooooooooooo much better than the Mets it’s practically over already right?
This isn’t about “wishing and “hoping” that the Mets do good. This is about KNOWING that this team has the talent to have a realistic chance at making the playoffs, and we aren’t going to throw away that chance just to “save money”.
This is a good team that can win. With Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Wright coming back, Bay starting to hit, Niese and Gee pitching good, and K-Rod closing out the games, yes this team has a REALISTIC chance of making the playoffs.
and I said we had a realistic chance of making the playoffs since day one.
That doesn’t make you right. Reyes and Beltran have been great all year. Niese and Gee have pitched well all year. K-Rod’s been good all year. So you’re hedging your bets on the return of David Wright and the re-emergence of Jason Bay. Aren’t you tired of that? Aren’t you tired of “well, we got guys coming back around the break/deadline, so it’ll be just like making a move.” Especially a guy recovering from a broken back?
And then the team fails miserably right around that time. I’ve seen this movie before.
But this isn’t the same movie. this is the 2011 Mets, not the 2009 Mets. Different players, and a different manager too.
It’s the same movie until they prove it isn’t. It’s not different players, it’s the same core, different role players. The core is what matters.
The rotation is totally differnt. And maybe some of the offense is the same, but they have changed during the last two years. Like Reyes, he’s much better now than he was 2 years ago.
The younger guys are more mature now too. Like Murphy, Thole, and Pagan(not exaclty young, but he didn’t have much experiecne).
It’s not the same team.
Hope you’re right. Wouldn’t bet on it.
Trading Beltran makes sense unless they plan on resigning him. I personaly would like him back but not for the 80% of what he makes this year so it really isn’t an option. They can’t offer him arbitration so the only move that makes sense is to try and get some prospect for him. I would be behind a trade for a high ceiling guy and a strong bullpen arm. I believe that would be the best move for the team. Yes it is possible that the Mets can make the playoofs with him but chances are we aren’t the Braves are playing to good and Philly is untouchable for some reason. Beltran will be hard to replace this year for sure but I think it’s the right move for this organization right now.