Over the last month or so, the Carlos Beltran rumors have heated up to the max. It has quickly became a “when” Mets deal Carlos Beltran instead of “if”.
Ken Rosenthal reports the Red Sox and Phillies have been the most persistent thus far. That may be true and I’m not discounting that, however I don’t believe Carlos Beltran will be in either uniform come August 31st.
The Red Sox lack that true “blue chip” prospect that Sandy Alderson is apparently coveting. They traded away top prospects such as Casey Kelly (currently tearing it up for the Padres in minors), Reymond Fuentes (Beltran’s cousin), and Anthony Rizzo (recently made MLB debut).
The Phillies have one or two stud prospects. One happens to be a slick hitting RF named Domonic Brown. Brown draws a lot of loose comparisons to Darryl Strawberry due to his long swing and power ability. While I would take Domonic Brown in a heartbeat, I highly doubt the Phillies are willing to deal potential future star in division just to possibly guarantee another championship. But hey you never know…
Since early March I’ve pegged the San Francisco Giants as a perfect fit for Carlos Beltran come the deadline. And this is before Buster Posey got injured. Now with Posey out the Giants lack a big bat to glue together their lineup. Not to mention the gaping hole in RF>
Early this season MMO did a poll to see everyones guesses for 2011 NLCS. I picked Giants and Phillies (mainly because of their pitching). A rematch of 2010 all over again in 2011.
Now imagine this? Start a bidding war for Carlos Beltran between the Giants and Phillies. Both teams know he could put their team over the edge come the playoffs. Now were talking about huge prospect packages in return. Especially if the Mets are willing to eat Beltran’s salary like predicted.
What prospects can we expect from the Giants? Gary Brown (top OF prospect, batting .313/7 HR/56 RBI in Single-A at age 22.) (*also has 39 SB!)…Zack Wheeler? (Top pitching prospect) Both? I doubt we could get both, but one is certainly going to happen if Giants want Beltran.
Oh and as for the Phillies? If they want Beltran, Dom Brown’s name better the first thing out of Ruben Amaro’s mouth when he calls Sandy.
