April 24 – Happy Birthday Carlos Beltran

beltranI became an admirer of Carlos Beltran during the 2004 postseason, when he almost single-handedly put the Houston Astros in their first World Series. Against Atlanta in that year’s ALDS he hit .455 with 4 home runs and nine RBIs in the five game series and then followed that up with 4 more dingers and a .417 average in Houston’s seven-game loss to St. Louis in the 2004 ALCS.

Beltran originally came up with the Royals and won the 1999 AL Rookie of the Year award. He’s driven in over 100 runs eight different times in his career and made eight All Star teams. He also began the 2014 season with 358 career home runs.

Right after his stellar performance in the 2004 postseason, this native of Manati, Puerto Rico became a free agent and I was praying the Yanks would grab him. He even told his agent he wanted to wear the pinstripes. He did end up signing with New York but it was the Mets and not my Yankees who got him. He got off on the wrong foot with the Amazins’ when he had an off-year in 2005. He then put together three of the best seasons any Met outfielder has ever had and still was under appreciated by the team’s front office and fans. They never forgave him for making the third and final out of the 2006 ALCS, when he stared at a third strike thrown past him by the Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright. When injuries cut both his 2009 and ’10 seasons short he really became persona non grata over in Queens and the Mets ended up trading him to the Giants.

Beltran became a free agent for the second time at the end of the 2011 season and the slugging switch-hitter again told his agent to try and get him to the Bronx but again it didn’t work out that way. He ended up signing with the Cardinals instead and he put together two all star seasons for St. Louis.

The third time proved a charm. On December 19, 2013, Beltran got the best Christmas present of his life when he signed a three-year deal to probably end his playing career as a Yankee. The signing has already paid dividends for the Bronx Bombers as Beltran has driven in some key runs for New York during the opening month of the 2014 season. He turns 37 years old today and I firmly believe this guy will be one of the top three free agent signings in Yankee franchise history. He shares his April 24th birthday with this former Yankee reliever, this Yankee starting pitcher and this one-time Yankee third baseman.

Year Tm G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
2014 NYY 19 80 75 10 23 7 0 5 13 0 4 18 .307 .338 .600 .938
17 Yrs 2083 9029 7943 1356 2251 453 77 363 1340 308 938 1445 .283 .358 .497 .855
KCR (7 yrs) 795 3512 3134 546 899 156 45 123 516 164 316 584 .287 .352 .483 .835
NYM (7 yrs) 839 3640 3133 551 878 208 17 149 559 100 449 545 .280 .369 .500 .869
STL (2 yrs) 296 1219 1101 162 311 56 4 56 181 15 103 214 .282 .343 .493 .836
SFG (1 yr) 44 179 167 17 54 9 4 7 18 1 11 27 .323 .369 .551 .920
NYY (1 yr) 19 80 75 10 23 7 0 5 13 0 4 18 .307 .338 .600 .938
HOU (1 yr) 90 399 333 70 86 17 7 23 53 28 55 57 .258 .368 .559 .926
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/24/2014.

Leave a comment