MONDAY, 1:26pm: SI's Jon Heyman agrees; he says Beltre plans to decline the arbitration offer today.
SUNDAY, 11:03pm: Word in the Winter Meetings' lobby is that there's "no way" Scott Boras will allow Adrian Beltre to accept the Mariners' offer of arbitration, says Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times. Tomorrow is the deadline for the 20 or so free agents that were offered arbitration to either decline or accept.
There was some thought on Friday that the Mariners couldn't finalize their deal with Chone Figgins until Monday because the team first had to make sure Beltre would decline arbitration. The 31-year-old former NL MVP runner-up is said to be looking for at least $10MM per year, and has drawn interest from the Giants.
