He's heeeeerrrrrrrreeee The Texas Rangers and free agent Adrian Beltre have come to an agreement on an apparent six-year, $96 million contract.
The Rangers and this franchise's fans, I wholeheartedly believe, will rue this contract. Beltre is a far bigger risk than Cliff Lee for seven years.
I've stated it before. I've not hidden my feelings about Beltre being a guy that plays well in contract years and dogs it the other times. I was right about Brendan Haywood. I hope to the Lord Jesus Christ that I'm wrong here.
Although I do feel Beltre's impact on the field when he's hitting .250 and spending two weeks on the disable list, there's the fiscal impact that is as up in the air as anything.
What if in two years Chuck Greenberg and Co. don't feel like spending money. Beltre's contract becomes the albatross not unlike Alex Rodriguez and Chan Ho Park. The team struggles. Seats are empty. The ownership group balks at spending more. Then we have Tom Hicks Part Deux on our hands. And it should be noted that Beltre's 32 when the season starts, meaning he'll be 38 (should he finish out all six years) when the contract ends.
As much as we like Greenberg and Co., it's fueled by the fact that we hated Hicks so much.
Do not be fooled by the arguments that Beltre does not dog it in non-contract years. The convenient truth that he did not do well in his arbitration years is bunk because A) it proves that he just generally sucks and B) he still got pretty good pay increases (like everyone) during his arb years.
Beltre does give you a significant boost on defense and considering their signing of Brandon Webb is a huge help. It also addresses the designated hitter spot (Michael Young) and kind of a infield utility spot (Young, again). A lot more flexibility.
And, at the very least, even in his bad years Beltre is capable of 20-something home runs and 90+ RBI, a fact that should enthuse, but rather irritates me that a guy with so much talent was virtually underperformed the last decade.
It's disturbing, I might add, how nonchalant the Dallas print media's been about this signing. Tim Cowlishaw is shitting daisies and rainbows. Everyone else is just kind of silent. No one is bringing up the real issues that come with Beltre.
What scares me the most is the thought that the Rangers had the cash to spend when Cliff Lee jettisoned and they were going to spend it on whoever was next in line. It stinks of Chan Ho Park.
I sincerely hope I'm completely, 100 percent wrong on all of this.
