Adrian Beltre agreed to a deal that guarantees him $80MM over five years. It's the biggest contract of Beltre's career and the fourth biggest free agent deal of the 2010-11 offseason.
The left side of the Rangers' infield should improve when Beltre joins defensive whiz Elvis Andrus. Since Andrus became a regular in 2009, he ranks seventh among MLB shortstops in UZR/150 and Beltre ranks second among MLB third baseman for that same time period. Beltre has had his highs ('04 and '10 stand out) and lows ('01, '05, '09) at the plate, but he has been an above average hitter and defender more often than not.
Beltre joins the defending American League champions on what will presumably be the last major contract of his career (he'll be at least 36 when the deal expires). For what it's worth, Beltre has a career .306/.336/.521 line in 229 plate appearances in Texas.
Here's what it means for the others involved:
- This could be the end of Young's tenure in Texas, but he won't be easy to trade and he adds value as a utility player, so the Rangers may keep him. Young, who has already proven that he can adjust to big league position switches, may have to play shortstop for the first time since 2008 and second base for the first time since 2003.
- With Young likely slotted for a DH/utility role, the Rangers' need for Guerrero decreases significantly. Mike DiGiovanna of the LA Times said yesterday that a deal between the Rangers and Beltre would "greatly increase the chances of slugger Vladimir Guerrero returning to Anaheim." However, Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com hears that the Angels are not talking to Vlad.
The Angels
- The Angels could have used Carl Crawford and Beltre, yet they did not sign either player. While the A's and Rangers have made a number of acquisitions, the Angels have been relatively quiet, adding left-handers Scott Downs and Hisanori Takahashi.
The A's
- The A's opened the bidding for Beltre with a five-year, $64MM deal. They'll now face him many times per year with Kevin Kouzmanoff at the hot corner.
The Red Sox
- The Red Sox will obtain two top draft picks next year since they offered arbitration to Beltre, a Type A free agent, and he turned it down. One draft choice will be a supplementary first rounder and the other will come from the Rangers. It will be Texas' first rounder as long as the Rangers don't sign Rafael Soriano. If they do sign the closer, the Rays would get the Rangers' top pick and the Red Sox would get their second rounder.
Jose Bautista & Aramis Ramirez
- Bautista and Ramirez are set to enter free agency after the season. They're far from perfect comps for Beltre – Bautista may end up playing right field next year – but this deal could play in their favor if they hit free agency after strong 2011 seasons at third base.
Scott Boras
- Did anyone expect Jayson Werth to sign for $126MM and Beltre to sign a deal that could make him $96MM? Finding the right deal for Rafael Soriano is another major test for Boras, who has found unexpectedly big paydays for his clients so far this winter.
Photo courtesy of Icon SMI
ooooh perty embedded pics
I don’t like the pics. I love the simplistic design of MLBTR.
+1 I hate websites changing (HEAR THAT, FACEBOOK?)
The photo’s great but is there an update for the iPhone app coming so they’re resized instead of stretching the page?
I am mainly amazed that Texas has, once again, bid against themselves to up the price for a free agent.
The bidding was at 70 million, and they jumped up at a minimum, if you ignore the 6th year, 10 million to 80 million, with another 16 added on most likely.
This isnt some Giants paying $40 extra million for Zito, this barely qualifies as bidding against themselves. Its a fine signing for a team that needs quality pitching more, but defense saves bad pitching more often than not, so its a wash.
The jump from 5/70 to 5/80 is only $2mil AAV, hardly bidding against themselves.
texas once again bidding against them selves? when were the other times? Didnt beltre get a 70+ mill offer from the angles and a 65+ mill offer from the A’s? They did exactly what you are supposed to do. See what other teams are offering a guy your team wants and offer more(and considering they got him away from two divisional opponents) its not bidding against them selves at all. If they would have offered exactly what the angles did who knows maybe he would have gone there.
I mean, the Angels were not going to go above 70. If they had offered 75 for 5 years they could have got him. They didn’t need to add 20 million more.
You work for the angles? how do you know they were not going to go above 70 mill? Lets say they dont and lets say the option does not vest that means the rangers only added 2mill per season more than the angles hardly an over pay/ not at all bidding against them selves. and considering its a PA vesting option much like maggs last season its easy to make that not vest simply dont play him..and there 16 mill back in texas pocket
70+20 =/= 80
ok, lets recheck our math!
“If they had offered 75 over 5 years, tehy could have got him. They didn’t need to add $20 million more.”
How much did the Rangers sign Beltre for? 6 Years, 96 Million.
What is 96 minus 75?
Oh wait, I was wrong. It was 21 million, sorry.
I was going to reply but this^ pretty much covers it.
That’s correct. All the Rangers did was add the extra year to get the deal done. Leave off that year and the Rangers offered 10 mil more than the Angels over 5 years…not like what Hicks did with Boras in the A-Rod debacle. I guess some people expected the Rangers to go in with a pocket change pouch and get Beltre to sign for $70 mil and…50 cents…
I think the poster was referring to when the Rangers did bid against themselves and gave A-God that ridiculous $250M deal. They definitely paid much more than anyone else would have that year. But I don’t agree they bid against themselves for Beltre. They had to go higher than the Angels to land him, added the option year and got it done. The Angels have a great starting five on paper, but their failure so far to upgrade the offense has to be a major disappointment to their fans. Still six weeks away from spring training, though, so they could still swing a trade.
Beltre lives in L.A. If the Angels offered $70 million for five years and the Rangers gave him a guaranteed $80 million for five, how is that bidding against yourself? Oakland reportedly came in with an offer of $75 million for six years late in the process. Now you can argue all you want about whether Beltre is worth $16 million a year, just like you can argue whether Crawford’s worth $20M and Werth’s worth $18M. But I don’t see where the Rangers bid against themselves.
How did they bid against themselves? He turned down $70M and wanted 5yrs/ $85 – $95M. The Rangers won the bidding against the Angels and A’s…not themselves.
Bidding against themselves? AMAZING! That is a tactic the NYY have down pat! Just check out ARod’s last 10/300M horrendous contract when NOBODY wanted to touch him for proof of that, or having to BRIBE Sabathia to NY by massively overpaying him to NY.
Bidding against themselves? AMAZING! That is a tactic the NYY have down pat! Just check out ARod’s last 10/300M horrendous contract when NOBODY wanted to touch him for proof of that, or having to BRIBE Sabathia to NY by massively overpaying him to NY.
Why does Adrian Beltre always look like he is pissed off?
You would too if you had a ruptured testicle.
Possibly because people keep mislabeling him as a contract-year-only superstar.
In that case he should be p.o’d at himself since it’s his own performance that’s labeled him this way. Now it’s up to him to play at a level that will change that.
Not really, it’s mostly a misconception. While his two best years have been in contract years so have three of his worst, when you figure in his arbitration years (essentially contract years since arbitration is based on performance) he has actually had terrible years more often than not in contract years.
He’s only had 3 years up for free agency. 2 of the years were his best (by far — miles above any other year).
Whether he was going to get a raise through free agency or arbitration doesn’t matter. If a guy only plays well in contract years it is so he can get more money, the same can be said about arbitration; if you play well you get more money. So tell me why exactly he would care about more money in free agency but not in arbitration?
Yay pictures! I would just make the pictures a little smaller as to not take away from the article.
Played well in Fenway, played above average D, and helped keep them in contention.
Great job of the Sox front office to get Beltre last year and turn him into what is Likely 2 high picks.
This is why they keep churning out stars.
Some people like to underline the fact that Boston have a TON of money, which is true, but their doing their homework a TON and are not afraid to take a gamble here and there.
They use their money well.
Billy wagner was a perfect example.
1st round pick(Vitek), plus a high sandwich pick(Ranaudo). (I was just disgusted that the Mets let him sit injured then let him walk, and do well on another team)
Billy Wagner in 10 years is going to throw out the first pitch of the season in Fenway to a standing ovation on how much he hooked up to Red Sox.
no pics in the posts, please. simple and uncluttered is best on this site. that’s one of the reasons MLBTR is the MLB news site I visit more than any other.
And pictures make it harder for me to read the site at work.
Seconded. The usual format makes this look like research from a distance. The illusion is shattered when there’s big, angry pictures of Adrian Beltre on my screen.
Seconded. The usual format makes this look like research from a distance. The illusion is shattered when there’s big, angry pictures of Adrian Beltre on my screen.
Anyone ever notice that the only time this guy ever has a good year is when his contract is up? Expect him to suck the next 4 years.
ever notice that isn’t true? look at arbitration years with the Dodgers and 2009 with Seattle. People only think that because he didn’t perform with the bat in Seattle – like anyone hits well in Seattle, its Petco #2.
Who said anything about arbitration years?
He’s had two (and only two) good years — 2004 and 2010. Coincidentally, those are 2 of the only 3 years he’s been up for free agency at the end.
Arbitration is based on performance so if he was a guy who only played well to get paid well he would have done so in his arbitration years as well. Instead he basically sucked in both of his arbitration years and ended up making much less than he could have.
there are plenty of other sites where I can see pics of players, if I really care about that at all. I don’t care what Adrian Beltre looks like. Maybe if I was a woman… but even then??
So ignore the picture. I think it’s a fine addition personally.
How do you ignore an image when it’s right smack in the middle of the post you’re reading? It will begin to clutter the site and the simplistic look that this site has is what makes it great. Same reason why Google has stuck with a very basic home page.
5/80 really isn’t an overpay, especially since 5/90 was thought to be the starting price, alot of people thought he was going to get more
Good article til it mentioned Boras.
Pics begin to clutter at a certain point.
its hard for a guy to suck in arlington well its easy to suck but he does consistently hit around 20-25 home runs and make his home field a hitters heaven he should be just fine. His offensive numbers should at worst be league average for a 3rd basemen but his defense is what makes him great. His offensive numbers may max out in contract years but his D is always consistent. and put him in the same lineup as kinsler, hamilton, cruz, possibly a dH of either thome or vlad depending on what they do with young. he will be very good
Not to mention the fact he historically hits better on the road than he does at home. He had better numbers on the road last season than he did at Fenway.
understandable but consider for a major portion of his career he was playing in a pitchers park not a hitters park. He hit very well at the fen last season and should do just as if not a bit better at arlington
One big thing a lot of people don’t notice is that Beltre actually hit better outside of Fenway last year. He put up great numbers at Fenway, but his numbers on the road were phenomenal.
My expectation for Beltre going to Arlington is that his home runs will go up while his batting average will go down (The Green Monster was perfectly suited to his swing, but more than a few homers he would’ve had were base hits, while more than a few easy outs elsewhere were off the wall hits).
One big thing a lot of people don’t notice is that Beltre actually hit better outside of Fenway last year. He put up great numbers at Fenway, but his numbers on the road were phenomenal.
My expectation for Beltre going to Arlington is that his home runs will go up while his batting average will go down (The Green Monster was perfectly suited to his swing, but more than a few homers he would’ve had were base hits, while more than a few easy outs elsewhere were off the wall hits).
For a player not named Arod or Pujols, Beltre has made a TON of money over his career. He’s always been obviously talented so more power to him. According to Baseball-reference, he will make a total of 87M+ over his career until age 37. When this contract expires he might have onbe more short-term deal to tack on to the total (maybe)..but wow!
Dudes! I’m digging that you guys decided to get all graphic on us!
Keep it coming!! 😀
thats what she said
now rangers go out trade young for anything while eating at max 50% of his remaining contract. Sign Jim thome, manny or even vlad. and Sign soriano just to screw the redsox with the draft picks. Let soriano close(he is amazing) and move neftali back to the rotation.
While I’d love the first rounder, I’ll live with it if the Rangers sign Soriano. I was terrified of the Angels grabbing both and shafting us with a third rounder and, while a first rounder would be nice, this is a deep draft and that second rounder is still more than a lot of people hoped for when the Sox signed Beltre. Either way, it’s a net gain.
While I’d love the first rounder, I’ll live with it if the Rangers sign Soriano. I was terrified of the Angels grabbing both and shafting us with a third rounder and, while a first rounder would be nice, this is a deep draft and that second rounder is still more than a lot of people hoped for when the Sox signed Beltre. Either way, it’s a net gain.
A picture here and there of the bigger-named free agents won’t kill you to look at. Its not like there will be a picture for every single transaction. Let the MLBTR team do their thing.
Anyway, Beltre got a very nice deal, hopefully he produces enough to forget about Cliff Lee for a little bit and then maybe you turn around and trade Mike Young later on at trading deadline.
Great. Now the people behind me at work know I’m looking at a baseball site.
My thoughts exactly.
Boras has done it again. I don’t like the guy that much but I must say he’s a great agent.
Seeing as Feliz is an excellent closer, I don’t see the Rangers signing Soriano, so Boston should get the top pick no problem.
But the whole thing about neftali was they were going to ease him into the bigs and use him in the pen. It just happened that francisco was bad enough to lose his closers job to feliz in 09. And they left him there in 10 becuase they knew he was good enough to do it and it gives him enough MLB experience against hitters without hurting his development as a pitcher. And last season all we heard from media and the rangers guys was that he will be moved back into the rotation if they lose out on lee which they did. So its looking like he is being groomed for the rotation unless something happens and they need him as the closer for one more year. Much like chris sale ad the whitesox they will use him as the closer unless they signing or trade for someone else and next season they will ease him back into the rotation
Sometimes when it clicks, it clicks, trust me, Feliz will be the closer for Texas for many years.
Like CJ Wilson was going to be the setup man for years to come?
Doesn’t Feliz want to start?
they also said the same thing about Jonathan Papelbon, Feliz showed he can be an elite closer with electric stuff, with Webb now in the rotation, I really can’t see texas pulling that. Its hard to get a great closer, they need Feliz right where he is.
Beltre can easily hit 20-25 homers in Arlington, its a good hitters park, plus he will be slotted in between Cruz and Hamilton, Beltre is going to be a great player for Texas.
That’s a dangerous trio right there. I love Beltre, but he’s a complementary player. Wedged in between guys like Cruz and Hamilton, though, he’s going to get a ton of stuff to hit as he’s probably the best bet of the three to get you an out.
That’s a dangerous trio right there. I love Beltre, but he’s a complementary player. Wedged in between guys like Cruz and Hamilton, though, he’s going to get a ton of stuff to hit as he’s probably the best bet of the three to get you an out.
good signing look at young…avg a D hits for a good avg some pop(10-15 hrs) decent obp….where as beltre great at D…hits for a good enough avg and has more power with a good obp….Yes beltre takes away a little avg but his power number basically double youngs power…compared to what they had at 3rd with young beltre is a huge upgrade and his defense makes pitchers better…and considering lee was not that good for the rangers at all untill the post season he is a better upgrade over all for the team
God I wish the Cubs wouldn’t have given Big Z a no-trade clause. I would gladly trade him for Young, put Young at 2b, and have Texas some of Young’s contract.
How off were the MLBTR staff in their free agent signing predictions this off-season? Aside from the obvious ones (Jeter, Rivera), I think they only got about 10% right.
Sure has played out differently than most of us expected, I think.
The offseason’s been about as predictable as the postseason. Jeter and Rivera are about the only two things to happen so far that anyone logically saw coming. The closest runner up was the Sox getting Gonzalez, which some people saw as a foregone conclusion, but even I expected the Padres to at least start the season with him and see how far they could get.
Really people? They try something new by putting up a pic and you guys act like they’re taking away your civil liberties…