ESPN and CSN Bay Area are reporting that the Giants acquired outfielder Carlos Beltran from the New York Mets today in exchange for pitcher Zach Wheeler and cash considerations. Finally, the Giants have the middle of the order bat they have desperately needed since Buster Posey was lost for the season. Beltran is having an All-Star season, hitting .287 with 14 home runs, 59 RBI and has a .381 on-base percentage. He instantly becomes the team's cleanup hitter and starting right fielder. He is also, however, a two month rental player.
Rental players are players acquired during the middle of a season, and do not last beyond those months with that team. Remember Jose Guillen? Didn't think so, he was a rental too. Brian Sabean, the Giants' General Manager has said in the past that he did not want to acquire rental players, but given the Giants' offensive ineptitude he was willing to make an exception. And he did. He went out and acquired the best hitter available, and a player that could very well lead this team to another World Series title.
The downside? We gave up a pretty legit prospect in Wheeler, for one. He's a 21 year old right hander who was the 6th overall pick in 2009, and is current;y pitching in Class-A San Jose. At first, I was reluctant to part with the young flamethrower, but upon closer inspection the deal doesn't seem all that bad. Let's take a look: 1) at 21, Wheeler is the same age as Madison Bumgarner, whom is currently dealing in The Show and 2) Wheeler's currently sporting a 3.99 ERA in San Jose, Tim Lincecum had a 1.95 ERA while in San Jose. Not so bad when you think about it, but giving up Wheeler wasn't really the bad news. The problem with Beltran is his contract. It's written in that he cannot be offered arbitration after the season, meaning the Giants can't guarantee exclusive negotiating rights with him nor will they receive draft pick compensation when he signs with another team. Typically, when players of Beltran's caliber are offered arbitration but sign with another team, the player's former team receives a first round draft choice as compensation. This won't happen for San Francisco. Beltran is also a Scott Boras client, meaning he'll demand big money and a bunch of years (see: Barry Zito, and let me know how that one turned out), two things the Giants will not be willing to do.
Enough of the negative, you can draw your own conclusions on whether or not this was a good deal. And if Beltran leads the Giants to another World Series San Francisco will forget about any kid named Wheeler.
Stay Current,
Pat
Another great blog post Pat...
ReplyDeleteDon't be so sure Carlos is just a "rental player"...San Francisco, is a great baseball town and believe me, once a player of Beltran's caliber gets to a winning team in a city like ours well....trust me, he will be impacted. There is nothing like the marriage between a willing performer and a appreciative audience. Stay current, Young Lion!