Believe it or not, this swing produced one of Adrian Beltre’s 28 homers, a total amassed which helped make him a very rich man.
All the Texas Rangers had to do was look at when Adrian Beltre‘s trend, focusing on when the highs and lows took place, and a boatload of money could have been saved. The Seattle Mariners know this amazing trend all too well, as they were on the expensive and bad end.
In 2003, his sixth season in the major leagues with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the 25-year-old third baseman played in all but three games, hit .240 with an equally awful .290 on-base-percentage, clubbed 23 homers and drove in a respectable 80 runs. Not a bad year production-wise.
The Dodgers would have liked him to produce more with greater plate discipline given his major league experience, but he had improved over his previous campaign, so they would expect increased numbers the following season, in 2004, the final year of his contract with the team. There was an increase as Los Angeles had hoped, but how much of an increase surprised everyone and even cast a suspicious cloud over the Dominican.
In his memorable 2004 season, Beltre was off the charts. He played in 156 games—two fewer than in 2003—but somehow increased his batting average an astonishing 94 points, to .334, and his on-base-percentage 98 points. He socked 25 more homers, narrowly missing out on 50 for the season and drove in 41 more RBI. It’s hard to find another hitter with such an increase in production in just a year’s time. What Beltre did was hard to believe, and, coincidentally, came at the perfect time.
Having just approached his prime, though already with seven years experience, Beltre entered the offseason as one of the top assets on the free-agent market. Some teams didn’t quite understand the enormous change in production from 2003 to 2004 and were hesitant to give him the big bucks a 48-homer, 121-RBI season warranted. The Mariners showed him the money, and he took it, signing a five-year, $64 million deal. Seattle thought they were getting one of the best hitters in the game, a player who could at least crush 35 homers per season, plate a bunch of runs and hit for a high-average. That player they did not get.
Seattle received an expensive disappointment instead. The Mariners would have been fools to expect him to duplicate one of the best year’s ever over a sustained period of time, but they did, at least, hope he could be the star in the middle of their lineup; someone they could count on to produce consistently. To put it lightly, he was but a shade of his 2004 self.
In 2005, while playing in the same amount of games as he did during his historic season, Beltre hit only 19 homers, drove in 87 runs and batted just .255 with a .303 on-base percentage. He had his moment throughout his career with the Mariners, but his best season with the team, in 2007, consisted of a .276 batting average, 26 homers, 99 RBI and a .319 on-base-percentage. He was durable, but his highest hit-total came in 2006, amassing 34 less than his 200-hit campaign in 2004.
He lasted the length of his deal, which surprised me. His final season with the team was cut short due to injury, but in 111 games, he hit only eight homers and drove in 47. This was how he entered his second free-agency period, and the teams were not lining up at his doorstep. No one was going to give a 29-year-old coming off such an awful season and, overall, an underwhelming stint with the Mariners, a multi-year contract.
Beltre would have to take whatever he could get. The Boston Red Sox showed some interest and wisely offered him a one-year, $10 million deal. He accepted. Boston hoped he would rebound, but a revitalization in Beantown wasn’t expected entering the 2010 season. Then, just as in 2004, he mashes the hell out of the ball, earning himself another extraordinary payday—one even more lucrative than before.
With Boston he had 189 hits, his most since 2004. He hit 28 homers—his most since 2004. He drove in 102 runs—his most since 2004. He hit .321 with a .365 on-base-percentage–again—his highest marks since 2004—and socked a career-high 49 doubles. Now 31 and ranked the third-best free agent on the market, he entered the free-agency period looking for an upgrade on the money he received from the Mariners.
After Oakland was given the cold shoulder and after Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim pulled out of the sweepstakes, Texas became his lone suitor, ready to spend. And even with two years and $24 million left on third baseman Michael Young’s deal, they showed Beltre the money he was looking for, offering him a contract spanning six years and worth an astronomical $96 million. He and his representatives accepted, and the deal is believed to be near completion.
The Rangers, which will either move Young to second base or plug him in as their designated hitter, are emptying the bank, just as the Mariners did, based off one good year. More and more contracts of this lucrative nature are handed out to players in their 30s, and some are justifiable. But this is not. In giving him this money, they are hoping he can do as much damage with them as he did with Boston. The same was said for Seattle and look how that turned out. Texas evidently didn’t take much notice.
(Photo: Zimbio)
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