Giants Acquire Carlos Beltran For Almost Nothing

The Giants need his bat, but they'll take his glove too.

In the biggest move yet during this year’s trade deadline, the defending World Series Champion San Francisco Giants acquired New York Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran for almost nothing. I’ll get to the “almost” in a moment. This move will surely bolster a beleaguered Giants offense that has suffered since the loss of catcher Buster Posey early in the season. In the short run, Beltran’s all-around capabilities should help the Giants secure the NL West division. I don’t think the Arizona Diamondbacks have the depth to contend with the Giants on the stretch run. The Giants currently have a 3 game lead over Arizona, and they will face each other nine more times before the end of the regular season.

Besides being an adept outfielder, capable of playing right and center, the switch-hitting Beltran provides some much needed pop in the middle of the lineup. He’s hitting .289 with a .391 OBP so far this season, and leads the NL with 30 doubles. Right now, his average is good for second on the Giants and his OBP is some 47 points higher than current leader Pablo Sandoval’s .344 mark. Beltran has three less home runs (15) than do the top two in the Giants lineup combined (Sandoval 9, Aubrey Huff 9). And while you can make the case that he’s had more chances to drive runs in with the better hitting Mets, Beltran’s mark of 66 RBIs is 19 more than any Giant has collected. He may not pay instant dividends with his bat, but it will probably come sooner or later. At the very least, opposing pitchers will definitely be paying attention to Carlos, opening up the possibility that Sandoval, Huff, and Nate Schierholtz start seeing some better pitches to hit.

Baseball fans well remember when Beltran burst onto the scene in 2004. After being a lifelong Kansas City Royal, Beltran was dealt at the trade deadline to the Houston Astros, whom he helped make the post season. In 12 games that postseason, he hit .435 and belted 8 home runs. Perhaps he’ll recreate his last contract year performance? The Giants sure hope so. Nonetheless, in 22 career postseason games Carlos has a .366 average, 11 home runs, 19 RBI, and 8 stolen bases. A six time All-Star, four time Gold Glover, Beltran is a career .282 hitter who is five home runs, and eight stolen bases away from joining the 300-300 club.

And to look at the Giants team batting statistics, any move for a better bat would have been a smart move. Here’s a little breakdown: they rank 26^th in the MLB with a .241 team batting average. 28^th in runs scored. 24^th in hits and home runs. 22^nd in extra-base hits. 27^th in OBP. 24^th in slugging percentage. Looking at these rankings, one would hardly expect much success, yet the Giants are 60-44. As we know from last year’s World Series, their pitching staff isn’t just good, it’s scary good. When most experts expected the Philadelphia Phillies to mop the Giants up in the NLCS, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, and Brian Wilson said not so fast (with some timely help from Cody Ross’ bat, too). The Phils didn’t just get Cliff Lee for a potential matchup with the heavy left-handed lineups of a Boston or New York in a World Series. If an NLCS rematch occurs, they need someone (besides an aging Roy Oswalt) to challenge the strong Giants rotation. It should be noted, too, that the Giants beat Lee not once, but twice, in the World Series last year.

In a way, the best part of this deal for San Francisco is that they parted with very little to acquire Carlos Beltran (even if he is just a “rental”). Along with cash, the Giants traded Zach Wheeler, a right-handed pitcher throwing for their Class-A Advanced squad. I suppose they paid somewhat of a price, if you consider MLB.com ranks Wheeler as the Giants second best minor league prospect, and 33^rd best in the entire league. But does anyone besides me think that a 7-5 record, 3.99 ERA, and 47 walks in 88 innings – in Class A ball – isn’t much to write home about? OK, he is only 21 years old, and does have 98 K in those innings too. But still, that’s not a very good ERA, nor K/BB ratio. For a team stocked with great, young, pitching talent, it doesn’t seem to be a huge loss parting with Wheeler. Of course, if he comes up in a few years and wins a Cy Young for the Mets, I’ll get started on an apology article. For now, I’ll credit GM Brian Sabean on making a great trade.

As for the Mets, this trade may signal the end of an era in Queens. At best, the group that was built around Beltran made it to Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS. At worst, the group headed into the final stretch of the 2007 season with a 7.5 game lead in the division, only to lose 12 of their last 17 games, and the division to Philadelphia by one game. All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes will probably have several teams willing to pay him a lot of money on the free agent market. At that point, one wonders how long stars like David Wright and Johan Santana will stay, too. (Actually, one wonders why Santana signed with the Mets in the first place.) With Philly likely to lead the division for at least another 3-5 years, and the Braves still being a good team, entering a rebuilding era may be prescient for New York anyway.

Sources: MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com