In a report for the Daily News, Mike Lupica believes the Mets gave Carlos Beltran a bad contract.
Lupica believes Beltran is a good player, but believes the dollars and years given out to him were bad, and wonders whether or not Beltran would rather be a part of the team’s past, rather than their future.
…i beg to differ regarding the contract…yes, the money and years the Mets gave Beltran were huge, but at the time, Omar Minaya was trying to get the Mets back on the map, and he was willing to do whatever it took to bring premium talent in, and he succeeded in doing so with Beltran…
…i think his knee injury has been badly mishandled, and that mishandling might have cost him a large chunk of the 2010 season, but frankly, there’s no way to tell whether or not he is actually “happy” being a Met right now…both has said there are no hard feelings over the matter and i have to take that at face value until i hear something different…it’s neither here nor there anyway as he is obligated contracturaly to the Mets, and the Mets cannot possibly trade him even if he did want out because they cannot maximize the return on him, given he’s been out for most of the last year…
…regarding Beltran’s value, the team managed to stay above .500 until he went down last year, and then they fell into the abyss…given that, i have to believe the Mets would be much better than 9-9 today if Beltran was playing right now, and i have to believe if he were available, the Mets wouldn’t have acquired Gary Matthews Jr. this past offseason either and gone through the pains of having his bat in the lineup…this knee injury was unforseen, and it has dragged out way longer than anyone ever anticipated, but a healthy Beltran was signed to a lucrative long term deal when he was 27 years old, when he was just entering his physical prime, and he still remains the best centerfielder in baseball five full seasons later, when healthy, and his absence demonstrates his value to this organization and as a player and i think justifies the dollars and years given to him…
…that said, i cannot think of ANYONE i’d rather have in centerfield, and everyday i’m hoping good news is coming regarding Beltran, because i still think he can and will prove his value to the Mets with his presence, rather than his absence…
It was a good contract up until they mishandled his knee injury. Depending how long it takes him to come back this year I think it will end up being a good contract overall.
Hard to say that his injury was mishandled. The Mets were being conservative and trying to avoid surgery. He still has not been cleared to resume baseball activities because the bone bruise is still not healed. If he had the surgery last year it was not going to heal the bruise any quicker.
Just as Matt just pointed out, how is it a bad contract if he’s still arguably the best player at a premier position in baseball? There’s no way we could foresee his knee issues and though I think the latest surgery was mishandled I’m not sure the organization is at any fault in the matter.
Michael Baron, wrote this. He seems to man the ship on the weekends.
and Michael Barron likes to be provocative. It’s like giving keys to the family car to your teen for the weekend.
Last time I checked Dupica did not have an MBA or a phd in economics. He has no street credibility.
I bet even Wilpon would agree that the contract was worth the money. How about all the sold out seats in Shea from 05 to 08? That has to be valuable, and the financial commitment to Beltran provided the intangibles that help fans recommit, and helped the mets be more competitive.
Aside from Reyes and Johan, Beltran is the most exciting player on the team. And defensively, no one is better. He still is the best all around CF in baseball.
Its this kind of garbage speculative reporting by Dupica (the stuff on whether beltran wants to be here) that makes it more challenging for the mets to attract and keep talent. Dupica doesn’t even write with good grammar or complete sentences. I wonder who he blackmails to keep his job.
Beltran was not a bad contract at the time he was signed…
in hindsght, hes missed alot of time and initially had trouble adjusting to ny but the adjustment period is expected, and he learned to embrace ny and did quite well when healthy, as far as his health, the mets are more to blame than beltran
that being said
i would trade beltran for ellsbury (and bucholz if we can get him also) in a heart beat at the deadline or in the offseason…get younger, faster, etc. and beltran will end up being a DH becuz of his knees…
and boston would be one franchise willing to do it since they need offense in a major way
its not a bad contract because it almost bought the Mets a world series. the players were there for a champion in ’06 but a few balls did not break our way. that being said, i don’t think its fair to say beltran is still the best CF in baseball. he hasn’t played in a year and who knows what he will be when he returns. meanwhile matt kemp has turned into an absolute star in center.
I gotta agree with everybody above me. He is considered the best overall CF in the game today with all 5 tools. The Mets handled the knee injury horribly. He wanted to be a Met and I bet he is dying not being able to contribute. I can’t wait for him to be back. Any word on the new timetable?
When I said in the game today, I meant before he was hurt.
Beltran by baseball standards was a great contract. He was a mvp type player for years. Look at his numbers and look at players that make much more then him. Manny, Arod, Cabrera, Jeter, Helton.
He has given good value for the contract.
Beltran for Ellsbury this offseason!!!
Not sure the sox want to get older…
the sox want offense, and may be desperate, they are a win now team…
they will make the trade because beckett, lackey, dice K, etc. are not getting any younger…
beltran could play center as well as DH, itll help his logevity and will help his value playing in a smaller park, plus i think he had a problem with how his injury was handled, he would def consider waiving his no trade clause
ellsbury + reyes on top of the lineup would play right into the motto of pitching, speed and defense…they would make the most elite 1-2 leadoff combo in recent history!
as reyes goes, so do the mets, with ellsbury, itlll be like having 2 reyes’
I love Beltran but I am getting used to watching this team without him and I don’t “expect” him to be back anytime soon, I don’t know anything about his attitude or anything, I know there are arguments either way. I would trade him though, I def. love the idea of trading him to Boston for Ellsbury and possibly a pitcher.
see my post above, why i think it would favor all parties involved…
Beltran will comeback in June, have a strong July and get traded to Boston on July 31st for Clay Buchholz and a couple of prospects. Then in the off season, the Mets trade for Sizemore (using F-Mart and a prospect gotten from Beltran’s deal) from the Indians and sign Clift Lee. Your 2011 team lineup and rotation:
SS Reyes
CF Sizemore
3B Wright
LF Bay
1B Davis
RF Francouer
C Thole / Blanco
2B Castillo
LHP Santana
RHP Pelfrey
LHP Lee
RHP Buchholz
LHP Niese
The Mets will trade Maine to the Brewers (Peterson’s request) and send Perez to the pen, even if he never gets into a close game. It’s a blog, we are allowed to dream!
I actually posted the same thing about sizemore yesterday, only I said go after him now while his value is down if you find out beltran is out for the year or just about all of it. I’d offer Fmart and a couple midlevel prospects for sizemore. Also, that lineup looks good, but I dont think castillo will be here next year unless he has a great year this year…but I like the lineup…
i’ve been saying trade beltran to boston too. i like the sizemore idea
I have Castillo in the lineup, because I assume they will not be able to get rid of him. The Wilpon’s will not eat the contract. But 1 through 7 should be enough to carry him for his final year.
I wish they could get Sizemore now, but that will certainly affect the Mets bargain power in a trade with another team. Still that’s the type of team the Mets need, and they one they’ve been looking for……focus on pitching, defense, speed and more athletic players (not to mention a young team to contend for years).
perez + castillo could net you zambrano
salaries add up, bad contracts for bad contracts
cubs would like to break up the 18 million into 2 pieces to allow for the possibility to save some money
only problem: zambrano’s no trade clause
but
now hes in the bullpen, if hes there at the all star break, he will demand to start or demand a trade…and there lies the mets opportunity
Sorry dude, now that’s more than a dream!! Just because Zambrano has a huge contract, doesn’t mean the Cubs will take the Mets bad contracts. Zambrano is still a top of the rotation player while Castillo and Perez shouldn’t even be in a ML roster. The Cubs need to get younger, and Zambrano will bring some good prospects from other organizations.
Love to see Zambrano in the Mets rotation, but is not happening for those two players.
Beltran will be back, though the All Star break seems a more reasonable timeline. He will determine his value over the last 80 games. Catch 22 here: If he sucks, no one will want him, if he’s good, why would you trade him?
the contract at the time in dollars in years was a lot but you have to remember he was 26 or 27 years old and in his prime and didn’t have knee problems
also he has a knee condition called osteoarthritis and there is no cure for it and these bone bruises he keeps getting (which is why he is still out and why he missed most of last year) are a byproduct of his knee condition … it has nothing to do with any knee injury
from what i understand the only thing that makes these bone bruises or hot spots, as they’re now calling them, get better is a long period of rest and inactivity … however, as soon as he resumes running and baseball activity they are pretty likely to return … so it seems this is going to become a pain management thing for carlos
sounds like we’ll be stuck with a switch hitting Hideki Matsui and no DH.
If we ever get to the point of trading him and he agrees (no-trade contract) … Seriously, what team is going to pay the remainder of his contract, much less give up valuable young talent for a guy who is likely to be DH’ing. The only way he leaves here for Boston is a Billy Wagner kind of deal.
yeah, but, at some point we might have to take what we can get… and it might be a case of addition by subtraction; moving Beltran would open CF for F-Mart.
Only problem with that is that F-Mart is not a center fielder.
i read that all the injuries might be catching up to Sizemore, too.
I think the CF job should be given to F-Mart next year (barring any severe injuries or massive crap-outs) to keep the home-grown youth movement going. F-Mart could be the next Sizemore or Beltran… i know, i know, he could be the next Alex Ochoa… but he’s worth a shot, don’t you think?
Yeah, we both know the days of Beltran in his prime as a Met are over. There may be an encore some time this year and/or next year, but that’s it. I am sure the Mets have a list of CF’ers they are looking at for 2010, 2011, and 2012. We have some options, Pagan, F-Mart, Niewenhuis, free agents, trades, who knows. It’s sure to generate a lot of dialog. I cannot see us re-signing him, despite any thoughts the delusional Scott Boras has. Beltran is heading for the AL. Daniel Murphy wants to play CF, I’m kidding.
We have Beltran’s and Castillo’s achy knees for 2 more seasons each. Okay, 1.9 seasons each.
Was it Alex Ochoa or was it Alex Escobar? Or both?
i think both…
AMEN !!!!
He’s a bum!
Lupica is a Joke. He knows nothing about what he is writing about. He just wants to create/blow up drama in everything he writes. Beltran has been one of our most consistent players. Yes he has had days were he didnt seem that into it. But in most cases he has come through for the Mets. Excluding that caught looking strikeout in 2006. I hope Beltran gets healthy soon and rejoins the team. We all miss his bat and defense.
I’ve read the guy for 30 years. He makes jokes, but the guy’s pretty smart.
By the end of 2010, we will have paid Beltran for 6 seasons for 5 years of production. Personally, I’d rather pay fewer years at a higher average salary than a longer contract where age factors in to the equation.
Do you buy or lease a car?. If you lease, you get rid of it before it becomes expensive. If you buy it, then often you are paying for maintenance while still making car payments. If we had signed Carlos for 4 years, we would have recieved our moneys worth. At seven years, we are paying a car payment (salary) while paying maintenance (his replacements salary)
He compared the Beltran signing to the Yankees signing of Jason Giambi. You can’t be intelligent and pen that.
But if you exceed the milage on a lease then you must pay a premium in addition to the salary as well as any and all damage not considered to be normal wear and tear, on top of the additional insurance coverage that the above average/lux lease requires.
How does that compare now?
Once again, I’ll preface this with “I’m not doctor. That said, it wasn’t the contract that was bad, it was the handling of Beltran. When he had a minor bruise, his salary and value to the team, left them unwilling to let him rest and heal and thus, when he stayed out there, he was vulnerable and banged his knee again (on the wall?) and then, got the serious chronic bruise. Then, their second mistake was not being willing to eat a year or more of his contract right off the bat and send him immediately last summer to Colorado for the microsurgery on his bruise, which he still hasn’t had. The doctor could have done the cleaning job on his knee(s) that he did this January then, too. We would still have had him back by about this coming August and had a season plus of a healthy Beltran. As it is, we probably won’t have a healthy Beltran at all. He’ll probably try and come back in July or August and will reaggravate his bruises in his knee and limp through the remainder of 2010, to have the surgery in October, only to come back next August at 75%. Or worse. Maybe Boras and Beltran decide by July or August that he must have the microsurgery. Then, at least he can be healthy for the last 2 or 3 months of his contract and showcase himself for free agency:( Whatever – it’s the Met’s fault, so sadly, they deserve it. Us as fans however, don’t.
I’m glad it’s so black and white. Unless you are a medical expert and you work in the Mets office and you have had lenghty ongoing, honest dialog with the player then you just don’t know. It’s purely speculation, but hey that kind of writing could get you a job with most NYC area newspapers. I believe that is one of the major pre-qualifications at the NY Post.
Of course, always choose the most extreme option prior to attempting everything else…
Using your mentality, everyone would have open heart surgery to correct hi Blood pressure
I’ve never heard what his doctors have to say about his conditon. How they think the knee will he respond when he starts playing again, chances of more surgical procedures,etc.. I wish Beltran had a blog where he updated how he is feeling and where his rehab stands.
I think everyone–except for the Met’s front office–wishes that Beltran had that blog. :)
I don’t think it was a bad contract. I do think Lupica is an annoying journalist who looks to tweak readers, however. Beltran was (and is) one of the best players in the entire game, and at the time we signed him to the contract he was the right age and had absolutely no health issues. There is no other way to analyze the contract. Playing Monday Morning QB is just very … Lupica.
And to compare Beltran to Giambi is nauseating journalism. Giambi was a one-dimensional steroid junkie that could hit. He was a liability in the field (more of a DH) and was 31 when he signed.
Beltran was 28 when he signed, a gold glove CF with 40 HR power and the ability to steal 40 bases, while switch hitting.
I dont think he compared the signings, he said that right now beltran is to the mets what giambi was to the yanks in the last year(s) of there deals…he didn’t say it was a bad signing, just now it looks like one because of the constant knee issues. I hope Beltran comes back soon, but i’m on the boat for those who think the mets should go after sizemore, and i’d give up fmart because mets dont view him as a CFer, so if the mets are happy with bay and francoeur, there isnt room anytime soon.
Reason I say Sizemore is that hes still young(27 or 28) and his value is down, and hes playing on a rebuilding franchise. I know people question his health now, but he can still be a building block for now and the future. Not to mention he plays great defense and goes balls to the wall 100% of the time
this is all assuming beltran is out for most of the year if not all
This all smacks of Boras and I am not happy about it.
For starters, I would like to ask Mike Lupica how much money he’s getting paid by Scott Boras. That said, I’ve heard he doesn’t want to be with the Mets and like Matt I’ve heard he has no hard feelings. The way I see it, if the Mets are winners he would have no problem being there. If they’re not, then he cant get out of town fast enough. Winning, cures alot.
“…the Mets wouldn’t have acquired Gary Matthews Jr. this past offseason either and gone through the pains of having his bat in the lineup…”
The fact of the matter is is that they didn’t have to ‘suffer’ with him in the lineup – that was by choice, not necessity – and a very poor one at that. Pagan should’ve been in the lineup from day 1.
To clear this up again – Beltran had a very minor bruise, which was aggravated by the Mets not letting it heal before letting him return. So the whole thing is the Mets’ fault. And to the poster that wrote about Boras paying Lupica, did you read the piece? He doesn’t say there and never says nice things about Boras. Lupica usually makes his displeasure known towards Boras.
My, my.
A lot of defensive posts made today. But what else can you expect from the site?
The guy came here with a “testy” knee. And then he even sat out a while in September 2006 while the knee was acting up. He’s been battling the cranky knees the entire time he’s been here.
Stat-wise, his first three years here were exactly what was expected. It’s the tail end of the contract that makes this a horrific deal.
Maybe it’s a Boras-planted story. Attacking Lupicia does nothing except make YOU look immature.
Personally, once I heard they made an 11th-hour phone call to the Yankees before signing here has always kept me from rooting for him. He doesn’t even look like he’s trying at times.
Wouldn’t you try to increase your value?
The Mets made an offer and Boras called George to make sure he wasn’t interested.
Aren’t the Mets constantly telling agents to call them prior to signing any agreements and give them a change to increase their offer? That’s called good business.
As fas a value to the team goes…Beltran was worth every cent of his contract…As far as his knee is concerned, it’s professional sports…that’s the chance the teams make when they sign players to long term contracts. we can always be like Football and just dump players if they make too much money…(not a bad idea…)
It’s actually a very good idea. These long term, and guaranteed contracts are taking sports like baseball straight down the tubes. Teams should have the ability to cut players loose.
I’m not saying Beltran is dogging it, but I feel (my opinion) that many ball players opt out of playing or go on the DL when they really are not hurt badly. They have contracts that permit them to do that.
Regarding your first point…Beltran and Boras were negotiating for a long time with teams before getting down to the details of the Mets deal. Be fair…and re-read the papers if you forgot…Beltran and Boras called the Yankees to try and make a deal between verbally agreeing and signing with the Mets. Which is really lousy.
Just another guy – going through the motions – collecting a giant paycheck. Sorry, that’s all I see.
A. I don’t think this team is in particular danger of missing Carlos Beltran, IF Reyes, Wright and Bay play up to their caliber and remain healthy. If you have that and solid contribution from Pagan, Francouer and Davis you have enough depth. If one of the latter three is better than expected suddenly you are very very strong.
B. While I do not believe at all you can say Beltran is “going through the motions” as that basically assumes and individual signing a contract will some how GET better simply from money which is absurd, he is a player who increasingly has no identity on this team. Every game they play without Carlos Beltran, every step they take in the right direction points more and more and more to the critical value of Jose Reyes than Beltran. Yes the team completely collapsed minus Beltran, but they were more than .500 team when Reyes went down. Jose Reyes has been and continues to be the straw that stirs the Mets drink.
I agree that a big contract doesn’t make a player better… that would be absurd. But I disagree that Beltran being out doesn’t put the team in danger. This team was built around the idea of having Beltran in the middle of the order and patrolling the vast centerfield at Citi Field. The Mets have no one on the roster or in their farm system that can replace Beltran in either respect.