During the St. Louis Cardinals’ 6-4 win over the San Francisco Giants, Carlos Beltran who hit a two run homer in the fourth inning, became the all time leader with a .817 slugging percentage in National League Championship Series  history. This after becoming the all-time leader in the ALDS with a 1.486 OPS.

Last night, Beltran admitted that the Giants never called him after the season ended and that there was still a little bitterness. He has maintained all along he enjoyed his time in San Francisco and was hoping to re-resign with them. “But hey never called,” said Beltran, who signed a two-year, $26 million deal with the Cardinals instead.

“What we didn’t realize is what a presence he is in the clubhouse, really great with the young guys,” utilityman Skip Schumaker said. “You don’t know what you’re getting in a free agent. You don’t know how they’re going to mix in the clubhouse.”

Meanwhile in the other clubhouse, the other former Met, Angel Pagan, couldn’t stop talking about Beltran whom he calls his teacher and mentor.

“He helped me a lot to be consistent with my swing throughout the year,” said Pagan, 31, who teamed with Beltran on the Mets. “It meant so much. I knew I had the talent, but I needed a push like that, work the right way, to take it to the right level. I learned so many things from him, and I still keep that in my preparation.”

Pagan led the majors with a San Francisco-record 15 triples and was tops on the team with 29 steals, batted .309 with 53 runs scored from August 1st on.

Giants GM Brian Sabean has said he will make a strong effort to retain Angel Pagan and at the very least should make him a qualifying offer of about $12 million for a one year deal. But it’s expected that Pagan will seek a 2-3 year deal this Winter. However under the new CBA rules any team that signs Pagan will forfeit a first round pick if he’s tendered a qualifying offer, and the Giants will get an extended first round pick as compensation.

This might be a good time to review the new Collective Bargaining Agreement Rules as we head into a new offseason as summarized by MLBTR:

  • Type A and Type B designations have been eliminated. Instead, teams will have to make players a qualifying offer to be eligible for draft pick compensation.
  • The qualifying offer, which will be determined by averaging the top 125 player salaries from the previous year, is expected to fall in the $12-13MM range for the coming offseason. All qualifying offers are for the same duration (one year) and the same amount ($12-13MM).
  • Teams will have until five days after the World Series to make qualifying offers and the players will have seven days to accept.
  • Once a team makes a qualifying offer, the player has two choices: he can accept the one-year deal or decline in it search of other offers. If he declines the offer and signs elsewhere, his new team will have to surrender a top draft pick (the selection doesn’t go to the player’s former team).
  • Teams that sign free agents who turned down qualifying offers will surrender their first round picks. However, the forfeited picks don’t go to other MLB teams. Instead, the first round simply becomes condensed.
  • The first ten selections in the draft are protected. Teams with protected picks will surrender their second-highest selections.
  • The player’s former team will receive its compensatory selection at the end of the first round. Teams now obtain one compensatory selection, instead of two.
  • If teams don’t make a qualifying offer, the player can sign uninhibited.
  • Only players who have been with their clubs for the entire season will be eligible for compensation.

On a side note, the Mets still need outfielders. Sorry, you probably already knew that. 🙂