On the disabled list since undergoing surgery to remove a bone spur in his left shoulder on June 30, Beltre is pushing the expectations for his return. Initially, the prognosis was he’d miss six to eight weeks.
"I’d play today, if they’d let me," he said. "That’s how good I feel."
He won’t, but he may make it back by next week.
...
When the team goes to Kansas City a week from today, Beltre will be with it – and he might play in that series against the Royals.
So much for Beltre potentially being done as a Mariner. He won't be back in time to make a difference, but he should be back in time to receive a proper send-off.
I don't get why so many Mariner fans still don't like him. I really don't. He's an above-average hitter. He's strong. He's quirky. He's personable. He's funny. He's a magnificent defender. He runs well. He always plays at maximum effort. He's durable. And he's maybe the hardest-working player the team's ever had. The worst thing he's ever done is hit 48 homers for someone else. It's absurd. Beltre's five-year tenure with Seattle is nearly complete, and it's likely he'll move on to play somewhere more favorable to re-establish his value, but because they can't help but evaluate players by their potential peaks, so many people will have missed out on enjoying easily the greatest third baseman this franchise has ever known.
By pretty much all indications, Adrian Beltre should have about two months left in his Mariner career. Cherish them.
0 recs | 57 comments
That man is absolutely a treasure.
royalcurve - July 27, 2009
God I am going to miss him.
Eyebrows - July 27, 2009
You could have him back in April!
Jeff Sullivan - July 27, 2009
Odds that he ends up re-signing with us, even on just a one year deal?
Much like the Bedard situation, you’d have to think that we’d present him with an opportunity to at least build up some more value, and at most maybe sign a longer deal. He seems very happy on the team, and is good friends with many of the players here that likely aren’t going anywhere soon (Felix, Loafie, Gootch, etc.). I’d love to have him back here, and I think GMZ is probably one of the few in the league that will properly appreciate his skillset
tootthekazoo - July 27, 2009
If we bring Beltre back on a short deal I will be so happy.
Without him we are much more boring.
Sec 108 - July 27, 2009
Exactly
I think he’d be an easy sell on a 1 or 2 year deal. I would think the free agent market wouldn’t be too kind to him after the injury this year, and how he “underperformed” for this whole contract
tootthekazoo - July 27, 2009
Except that it makes zero sense for him to sign that sort of deal here
rather than with a NL team in a hitter friendly ball park.
Matthew - July 27, 2009
Sad but true.
Sec 108 - July 27, 2009
*cough* St. Louis *cough*
Poochie - July 27, 2009
*cough* Fuck that, go to Arizona *cough*
Goose - July 27, 2009
Yeah fuck Mark Reynolds
Poochie - July 27, 2009
Probably gonna get moved to first base.
Goose - July 27, 2009
I know.
Poochie - July 27, 2009
The team can't afford Beltre anyways.
Goose - July 27, 2009
Conor Jackson goes to LF or is banished?
Mariner John - July 27, 2009
Jackson has been in left field.
That is, if he’s still among the living, which isn’t certain at the moment.
Goose - July 28, 2009
San Francisco.
InSpokane - July 27, 2009
Sandoval?
Mariner John - July 27, 2009
I think the general idea is that if he were to take a one-year deal to try to re-establish his value, he'd probably do it in a more visible media market.
Teej - July 27, 2009
And yeah, what Matthew said about the park.
Teej - July 27, 2009
Say hello to Beltre in a Phillies uniform :(
Graham MacAree - July 27, 2009
Where he will hit exactly 48 homers next year.
Teej - July 27, 2009
Jerk never took steroids for us!
Poochie - July 27, 2009
I don't think that's how steroids work Poochie.
Robert - July 27, 2009
No, good for hitters in contract years (Raul)
Bad for pitchers (Ryan Franklin)
Poochie - July 27, 2009
I still don't like him.
Poochie - July 27, 2009
So does Hannahan play 3B/2B now?
And do we get rid of Woodward? If so, then who backs up :(edeno?
Can I get me some Beltre at SS this year please?
CMC_Stags - July 27, 2009
Why in the dukes of hazard would you ever play Beltre at SS this year?
Robert - July 27, 2009
Or ever?
pdb - July 27, 2009
To be fair, he has played a few games at SS in his career.
BrettJMiller - July 27, 2009
True enough but I'd imagine he's far more valuable as a 3B
pdb - July 27, 2009
Obviously, but if we needed him to, I'm sure he'd be passable at short for like 5-10 games.
I wouldn’t do it, but I wouldn’t be super upset if we did either.
BrettJMiller - July 27, 2009
Because he's probably the 2nd most capable person on the roster at SS
after :(edeno. Especially if you then release Woodward.
With Beltre back – and assuming no infielders are traded in the next week – your starting lineup would be Branyan, Lopez, Cedeno, and Beltre. The question is who the M’s should keep for the bench.
Hannahan is a better hitter than Woodward and is better at 3B, but he has basically no big league experience at 2B. Woodward has experience at SS, 2B, and 3B, but has poor results anywhere but 3B and hits RH so he’s not an effective PH option for any of the starters.
If the team trades for a SS, this becomes easy. Keep Cedeno or Hannahan (send the other to AAA), and DFA Woodward.
CMC_Stags - July 27, 2009
The minute Beltre became a free agent I begged Bavasi to sign him.
When I logged onto my mlb.com one day during the 2004 off season, I jumped up and began running around in circles in my parents living room screaming “YES! YES! YES! We got him!”
Beltre has been my favorite Mariner ever since. I can’t even believe its already been five years and his time as a Mariner may be over.
Beltre has been hated, loathed, made fun of and laughed at by uneducated fans. Even this year as I sat in left field listening to some idiot go on and on. “God can you believe this guy? Already 9 errors this year. Some Gold Glover this moron is.” I was taken aback. Could anyone really be that stupid? Even after I explained to him “If Beltre gets to a ball that no other third basemen can get to and makes an error, how should that count against him?” The fans replied “Still an error.”
Moron.
And it’s morons like that that really make me happy. Happy because I know Beltre is good. Because I appreciate his body of work. I appreciate his unbelievable defense. I appreciate his bat. I appreciate his hustle, and his style of play.
I will miss Beltre more than most fans, and that makes me sad.
Goodbye Beltre, thank you for everything.
Mariner Melee - July 27, 2009
I hope we extend him for 2-3 more seasons. He's a great professional and underappreciated talent.
He is also the leader of the Latin contingent in the clubhouse.
Rudy4three - July 27, 2009
Who will lead them now?
waldo rojas - July 27, 2009
Silva!
Eyebrows - July 27, 2009
Shut up
InSpokane - July 27, 2009
I would love to have him here another 2-3 seasons.
InSpokane - July 27, 2009
I would love to have him for 4 or 5 more years
He just turned 30 not too long ago.
But I don’t blame him or his agent for trying to re-establish his value somewhere else.
PattyB - July 27, 2009
Not going to say I'll miss him most of all, because I don't have a 3-foot bobblehead of him
I agree with all of that whole-heartedly.
Well, I was actually about to disagree with the first sentence until I looked up Beltre’s stats on Fangraphs. It really seems like he’s struck out, or even wildly swung and missed, a lot more than he actually has over his whole time here. We’ve been really spoiled.
Maybe Felix can talk him into staying… “c’mon, man, we’re getting the band back together… just one more gig…”. Assuming Felix is going to want to stay…
Spoomeister - July 27, 2009
This is what I'll miss most about Beltre:
PositivePaul - July 27, 2009
This was more or less the first place my mind went as well.
Eyeball Kid - July 27, 2009
People don't like being surprised.
Beltre’s 2004 established an (unreasonable) expectation in fans’ minds, and he failed to live up to those expectations.
If they expected him to play like he’s been playing, they’d probably love him.
There are any number of other examples of how people react differently to very similar events based on what their expectations were, but the ones that spring to mind are too political to list here.
Llewdor - July 27, 2009
I for one was absolutely shocked to discover that a 10 WAR pace was unsustainable.
23.1 UZR and a .424 wOBA isn’t too much to ask on a year-to-year basis.
BrettJMiller - July 27, 2009
That is simply amazing.
Its too bad he couldn’t learn how to bat lefty before 2005.
Fin - July 27, 2009
What a disappointment.
You mean Adrian Beltre is not better than Albert Pujols!!?
ThundaPC - July 27, 2009
No, but I think it was unreasonable to think he'd hit .285/.340/.550 or so
and to many he has underperformed in that sense
Poochie - July 27, 2009
Not even the man who signed him expected him to match those numbers.
msb - July 27, 2009
The casual fan has never understood this
Ezzra - July 27, 2009
resigning players
Why is it that whenever a player is finishing off his last year of a contract with a team, it is almost given that the player will not be with the team anymore? I don’t mean Beltre/Washburn specifically but generally many players that have expiring contracts with at team…
fortyniners - July 27, 2009
Because the odds of him signing with one of the other 29 teams
is as high or heigher than him staying with the 1 team that currently employees him.
CMC_Stags - July 27, 2009
that makes sense but
I’m sure some players typically have more incentives staying with the same team and living in the same city. People say sports and all of the transactions that happen is business, but I would think more players would want to stay with the same team, to build on everything the player has been through with the team organization/fans/teammates and if they like the coaches, even if they will make a little bit less money.
fortyniners - July 27, 2009
The actions of approximately every free agent ever would seem to belie your thesis though
pdb - July 27, 2009
Sometimes a player will grant his team a hometown discount
Most often they will not.
Jeff Sullivan - July 27, 2009
Let's say a player is 80:20 to stay with his current team
versus going to any individual other team.
The point you’re missing is that there are 29 other teams out there. That’s going to drastically shift the odds from favoring staying with the same team to going to another team out there.
CMC_Stags - July 27, 2009
Beltre is the antiYuni
He always goes all out. You can always assume that if beltre couldn’t get to the ball… noone could. He is great at his job. It would take a beast like Pujols to consistantly rocket 48 HRs out of Safeco. During his time here I have thought about an assortment of options at a variety of positions but 3B was always his. I hope he sticks around a few more years.
Whoopetydoo - July 27, 2009
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