All-Star Outfielder Picked up at the Trade Deadline

Carlos Beltran is not a free-agent acquisition, nor is he playing in 2010 like an All-Star. (In fact, his offense this year has been too close to non-existent.) But if you have any belief at all in the concept of history repeating itself, you’ve got to be expecting good things from the man.

For a moment, let’s make believe you don’t know who Carlos Beltran is. Well, I’ll tell you. He’s a 33-year-old centerfielder who is seemingly somewhat past very prime. (He’s not exactly old, but he’s not 26, either.) On his resume reside a Rookie of the Year award, five All-Star games, three Gold Gloves, two Silver Sluggers and two Fielding Bible awards. He has a career .282/.359/.495 batting line (118 OPS+), has topped 25 home runs six times, and has had seven seasons with 100 runs scored and eight with 100 RBI. According to baseball-reference.com, three of his top five similar batters are Hall of Famers (Andre Dawson, Dave Winfield, Billy Williams; Shawn Green and Bobby Bonds round out the group).

Which is all to say that Carlos Beltran is really, really good. Now, granted, most of that’s history. But Babe Ruth’s career up to 33 was all history, too, and all he did to that history was add four 40 home runs seasons to it. Ted Williams’ two MVPs and two wars were history when he was 33; all he did was add two batting titles and three league leaderships in intentional walks (and OPS+ over 200 three times in rather full seasons).

Beltran is 33, not 53. He may be a shell of his former self, but I think he’s still a darn good shell. Having barely played in the last year, is Beltran rusty? Probably. But wait for the rust to wear off, and see what shines underneath. It may be a diamond.

And seriously, even if it isn’t, would your really rather see Jeff Francoeur out there?

Taking Stock

The 2010 season is past the actual and theoretical halfway points, and a look at the baseball* world brings a lot of surprises: The Royals stink, the Giants have good pitching, the Yankees are in first place - oh, surprises? Not so much.

I mean, most people would probably have pegged the Red Sox at less than 7 games back, and I certainly didn't expect to hear this much Angel Pagan-lauding, but like a Hershey's bar and a tank of gas, the first four months of this baseball game have basically given you what you expected.**

*I'm going to congratulate myself right here for remembering that August 1 is Mike Piazza's birthday. I must say, however, that I'd probably be congratulating myself somewhat more heartily if it were actually, you know, his birthday. In fact, I'm off by more than a month, as his birthday isn't until September 12. Stay young, Mike.

**The All-Star Game notwithstanding.

The Mets, as might’ve been expected, were neither laughably bad nor haughtily good in the first 4 months of the season,* and the time period has yielded surprises both good (Mike Pelfrey can pitch) and bad (no he can’t), but the Mets when all is said and done, are – and this really feels exciting after the meaningful-game drought that was 2009 – in the hunt.

*Honestly, that’s not true. They were both laughably bad AND haughtily good. But their season thus far has been neither.

I’m not going to say that at 6.5 games back of the wild card the Mets have a real good shot at winning, but I think the current angle for any Met-minded person has got to be, “Well, we’ve got a much better shot than seven back with seventeen to play, right?”

Which they do.