As a die-hard San Francisco Giants fan at heart, let me be the first to assure you the team should not and almost certainly will not ultimately sign Adrian Beltre.
Though the slick-fielding third baseman is the best free agent left on the market by far, the fact that Beltre employs Scott Boras to do his negotiating means he will go for tippity-top dollar. It also means this is precisely the position Scotty wanted his client in i.e. the biggest and brightest name left in neon lights because it adds a heavy dose of leverage to the proceedings.
In other words, we can already see the grind for max money starting.
Furthermore, while the former Los Angeles Dodger star authored the greatest season of his career (2004) in the NL West, he’s written far more underwhelming ones in the same or similarly hostile confines for a hitter (see: entire career with the Seattle Mariners).
Then there’s the matter of the former Boston Red Sox’ age—he’ll be 32 within about a week of Opening Day in 2011. That’s not ancient by any means, but it ain’t young either and it’s on the wrong side of a major-leaguer’s prime.
When you fit all those pieces together, you get a very clear picture of a very inefficient allocation of resources. With Barry Zito (another high-profile Boras client, which is no coincidence) and Aaron Rowand already consuming more than they produce, bringing more contractual fat aboard makes absolutely zero sense.
Nevertheless, if you remove the franchise-killing agent from the portrait, a possible deal becomes a whole lot more intriguing.
Because there are definitely 10 reasons the San Francisco Giants could use Adrian Beltre…