Carlos Beltran was named by Sports Illustrated as the starting centerfielder on their All-Decade team.
They name Johan Santana to their All-Decade five-man rotation.
In regards to Beltran, the magazine says:
“Six times this decade, Beltran scored 100 runs and drove in 100; only Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez did it more. He stole 256 bases in 286 attempts, a remarkable 90 percent. He won three Gold Gloves as a center fielder and was perhaps the best defensive center fielder of the decade. He hit 41 home runs for the Mets in 2006, tying the team record. He became only the second switch-hitter to hit 35 homers and steal 35 bases in a season. In 2004, he had perhaps the greatest playoff performance in baseball history, hitting .435 with 21 runs scored, eight home runs and six stolen bases in just 12 games. And yet, for much of the decade Beltran has been considered an underachievers. Sometimes, you can’t win.”
…i have said it before, and i’ll say it again, despite being named to lists like this, i still feel beltran is under-appreciated and totally misunderstood by so many Mets fans… to better understand what i mean, check out this post from a few weeks ago, here…
To read what SI has to say about Santana, and to see the rest of their All-Decade team, go here.
Speaking of Beltran, check out Dave Pinto’s recent profile of him on Baseball Musings.
GREAT! Here comes the SI curse.
I’m no pessimist but this screams “I’m getting injured in week 1 of spring training.”
None the less…congrats Carlos. You soooooo deserve this.
its still 2009, so I think it just bookends the curse from Spring Training. It finally ends it.
IOW, Mets will sign Lackey AND Holliday hahaha
The only thing that gets me down about Carlos is that he is always injured every year; it is so frustrating that he can never seem to be healthy for a full year. Other than that, Carlos Beltran is a stud, future hall of famer, just all around great guy and ball player. I wish I and other mets fan a like would appreciate him more while we still have him.
Here here. Best position player ever to wear a Mets uniform in his prime. I hope he retires a Met.
…and is able to play enough games to get to the Hall. Because if he stays healthy, he’s going.
Agreed, Matt. Anyone who can knock Carlos Beltran with a straight face deserves to have their eyesight revoked from March through October so as to never watch a baseball game ever again. This guy is arguably one of the best players to ever wear a Mets uniform. Hopefully Carlos can win a championship here so he is immortalized as the true superstar he actually is.
Now things are getting carried away, its not about revoking eyesight, everyone is entitled to their opinion, its not for anyone to say that a player can or cannot be knocked, they are all fair game.
Beltran is a great player no question, but if he does not stay healthy and does not contribute, how can we appreciate him for his full value?
His knee issues were no doubt mismanaged and that’s not necessarily his fault and I realize that he did seek 2nd opinion, but ultimately his knee health is HIS responsibility and he needs to be accountable for not making himself available to play every day.
I don’t agree. A stupid opinion is a stupid opinion. It doesn’t matter that someone has ownership of it.
As far as Beltran “not staying healthy”
Games Played:
’05: 151
’06: 140
;07: 141
’08: 161
Over that stretch, he averaged 29 home runs, 105 RBI, 21 stolen bases, 105 runs and hit .275 all while playing Gold Glove defense. If you haven’t seen him at his best, you haven’t been watching.
I think Beltran Is so under-appreciated so Im happy to hear that he was named the best Center fielder of the decade…..He definetly deserves it.
I want that Beltran jersey in the pic…haha.
don’t worry, Carlos… this Mets fan appreciates you quite a bit
I agree about Beltran being underappreciated. However, I also think that the disconnect in the treatments of Beltran and Reyes has been greatly underreported by the mainstream media and the blogosphere, including this blog. Please someone correct me here – I still am under the impression that neither Reyes nor Beltran have had the surgery that was originally recommended for their original injuries – or am I wrong about that? I am quite fearful that this will bite us in the ass. I hope I am wrong, but if and when at midseason, Omar and some of you are saying how their absences couldn’t be foreseen, please someone link back to this. All of that said, it was the Mets that messed Beltran up by running him out there and taking a bruise that wasn’t very serious and making it serious. I’m no doctor, but I got the feeling that Beltran and the Mets just didn’t want to face the music and lose him for a season and at least get it hopefully taken care of. I guess the surgery had risks, too. My guess is it really had to do with Beltran’s overeagerness to be on the field, even though it could endanger his career and the Mets only having a couple of years left on his contract and being willing to chance losing him for a season out of two compared to being guaranteed losing him a season out of two.
No surgery was recommended for Beltran. He played, and rest was the biggest thing anyway. For Jose, it was never a given that he should have that surgery, he didn’t recover as they would’ve liked, but they keep pushing him and pushing him (even though he obviously was reluctant due to how his body felt) until he broke. Hopefully the recovery helps him rest and heal the other injury.
You may be right about Beltran being pushed early, and it may have been better for him to sit for 15-20 days early in May and heal than try to fight through it and make it worse. Probably same could be said of Reyes. We’ll know early in Spring however, as both of them should be good to go, and if they’re not..well..
in re: the post. Beltran definitely deserves the honor, even if the decade isn’t over.
Also not having the WBC should help. I just feel the WBC in a case like Beltran hurt him long term during the season. The earlier work to get ready and play hard before normal added stress to the knees which could not have helped.
True – and now, I’m concerned about them letting K-Rod pitch in the winter, too.
Hi Ceetar. I thought there was the top microsurgeon in Colorado that said that the microsurgery was the only way to properly take care of Beltran’s severe chronic bruise. As I’m sure you remember, Reyes has two injuries. It’s nearly as hard for me to keep them straight as for the Mets apparently, but if I remember correctly, he finally got surgery on the chronologically second injury – the one that happened as a result presumably of running around at full speed without taking care of the first one. So, is it for sure that the first injury can be cured just by rest? I’m trying to remember, but I thought it was something that couldn’t grow back, but needed to be operated on. I could be way off, but I still have the feeling that there are some shortcuts being taken here. Also, it was shortcuts that added to these players problems. They threw Putz under the bus, rather than under the knife too, since they figured that they had nothing to lose. If he had the surgery, they’d get nothing out of him, so why not try to squeeze out what they can(?), I think that’s what they’re doing with Beltran. With Reyes, I think it’s just wishful thinking, but risky.
Carlos Beltran is the best player on the Mets right now. He and Piazza are by far the best two offensive players in the history of the team, and Beltran is so much better than Piazza defensively that I have to agree with Dave27… he’s the best position player ever to wear a Mets uniform in his prime. I would argue that among all players in Mets history, only Tom Seaver has been better overall.
Aside from being the best, I respect him more than any other players on the Mest right now. The guy hustles, works hard, stays out of trouble and produces. I hope we re-sign him when his contract is up. If he continues to produce at a very high level, we’re talking about a potential (POTENTIAL) hall of famer.
Could not agree more with the posts going on here. Beltran came to the Mets after having a Superman like post-season; which wasn’t realistic; the man just got hot at the right time.
That being said, he’s dominant in the OF and at the plate. One of the most constant players in our line up and one of the best to ever dawn a Mets jersey, seriously.
I too hope he retires a Met. If/when he gets too old to roam CF, move him to a corner OF position.
Nice job Carlos!!
Beltran is appreciated as a very special player everywhere except NY. Makes no sense.
when he went down, the team completely fall apart. most important player on the mets, IMO.
While you do have to acknowledge that he was the last of many guys to fall and that contributed to the all-out post-Beltran collapse, I agree that this year showed how truly important he is to the team. He’s the one guy I don’t think this team can live without.
I’m glad as many fans on here feel the way I do about Beltran. He’s not underrated but definitely underappreciated. I just hope his knees hold up and he stays healthy cuz he’s a huge key to the Mets’ success.
I believe Beltran is mostly under appreciated by Mets fans too. Not this fan though. I have been a big fan of Carlos since his KC days, and really appreciate the fact that micro-fracture and all, he was the only one to make a comeback last year. I can only hope that we will really have more than two more years left with him. I don’t care if he’s going to be on the decline in his next contract. He is someone I would want around until the end of his playing days.
Btw – SI did a pretty good job with this…but Vlad over Ichiro? Are they on crack? Ichiro has over 2,000 hits in only 9 season. Vlad can’t hit anything when the game is on the line.
Bonds over Manny is a stretch too…aside from his cartoon-like stretch mid-decade, Bonds is a 90s player, not a 00s player.