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Times Fluff Regarding Boonie & Beltran

Rotblatt Feb 22 2006 10:28 AM

I don't put too much stock in this--I bitterly remember the whole "Fonzie working out using a balance ball to strengthen his core--he's BOUND for a rebound!" thing--but it's still fun to read. Here are some excerpts: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/22/sports/baseball/22mets.html?_r=1&oref=slogin ]Boone's Point of No Return: Win a Job or Call It Quits By BEN SHPIGEL Published: February 22, 2006 . . . A long shot to win the starting job, Boone said he would play only second base and would not consider being a backup. "When I start moving around positions, that's when I know it's time to really go home," Boone said. . . . OFF-SEASON WORK BUOYS BELTRAN Carlos Beltran had an indoor batting cage built at his Puerto Rico home in the off-season. "Now I have no excuse for not doing my work," Beltran said with a smile. He worked out every day — asked if that included Christmas, Beltran reiterated, "every day" — for two hours, fine-tuning his swing and strengthening his legs. Fully healed from a quadriceps injury early last season, Beltran said he felt that he should have spoken up about wanting to be placed on the disabled list. Playing in pain limited his effectiveness and contributed to his disappointing season. He could not attempt many stolen bases, and he said Tuesday that he expected to run a lot more this season. "Oh, yeah," Beltran said. I'm glad they asked the tough questions about if he REALLY worked out on Christmas. That's good follow up! Anyway, it makes a whole lot of sense that Beltran's injury hurt him last year--his IsoP drop was historically large. If he's healthy, hopefully we'll get the mid-800's OPS that we all expected as his baseline last year. Of course, I'd still much rather see him as our #2 hitter and leave the #3 & #4 slots for our 900+ OPS guys (Wright & Delgado), but whaddyagonnado? As for Boone, I'm glad he wont be clogging up a bench or AAA spot if he doesn't win the starting job.

Johnny Dickshot Feb 22 2006 11:18 AM

I'm willing to give Beltran the benefit of the doubt and have reasonable hope that with better health he'll perform considerably better this year. But does it break anyone else out in a cold sweat to consider how close another bad year will go toward making this deal one of the worst the Mets have ever doled out, especially in light of it eviscerating a huge chunk of the value we had in a better fielding, better hitting, cheaper Mike Cameron, and the potential that we'll be paying Beltran to play CF long after Milledge is ready to take over?

Edgy DC Feb 22 2006 11:38 AM

Oh, there's really few contexts in which any disappointment from the Beltran deal can be ameiorated. You look at the added costs for knocking Cameron out of the picture, the lesser value in thinking of getting Guererro for less the previous season, and the potential for marginalizing Milledge. You just hope (1) he turns it around, and (2) enough other things break the Mets way that if he doesn't, he'll still be a contributor to some special seasons, a la George Foster. What else can you do. One thing that does ameliorate it for me (and I think subconsciously for a lot of Mets fans last year) is that the Mets got more value out of signing Pedro Martinez last season than expected. It's funny, but I suspect that if Pedro had a 3.50-3.90 ERA last year, the fans would've booed Carlos Beltran to kingdom come. They'd have booed Rigo Beltran for sharing the name.