Posts tagged CarlosBeltran at FanHouse

After playing a significant role in 11 of the Braves' 14 consecutive division titles, Chipper Jones knows a thing or two about how to act while playing the role of the front-runner, and he's not impressed with those who have followed in his footsteps. From a recent interview with Sporting News:

We won for 14 consecutive years, and you never, ever saw any bulletin board material. And now that these two teams are on top of the division, they can't keep their mouths shut. Just go play baseball. It's Cole Hamels now. It was Jimmy Rollins and Carlos Beltran the past couple of springs. These two teams are constantly going at each other verbally. You know, win with class, lose with class. Just keep your mouth shut and go play your game.

Hamels? Check. Rollins? Check. Beltran? Check. But wait, don't forget John Maine and Billy Wagner!

I think part of the reason the Phillies/Mets rivalry is more fierce is pure geography: New York and Philadelphia are a scant 100 miles apart; the Braves, meanwhile, are 10 full hours in the car away from their nearest division rival. Plus, the Phillies and Mets have shared the top two spots in the NL East for the last few years, whereas the Braves had an ever-changing cast of challengers in that second spot.

In any case, you have to enjoy the irony: a guy talking trash about other guys talking too much trash -- it's a Dugout plot just begging to be written.

Our MLB editor files dispatches from the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas in Notes From Sin City.

While the baseball world watches and waits for Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia to make up their mind, or even just for a scrap from super-agent Scott Boras, closer Francisco Rodriguez has become the belle of the Winter Meetings ball.

Though the Mets have yet to publicly acknowledge that they have signed the record-setting reliever, it is widely believed that Rodriguez has agreed to a three-year deal with the club worth roughly $37 million and containing a vesting option for a fourth year that could push its value past $50 million.

Problem solved, right? Third straight September swoon averted, right? Hardly.

Look, there's no doubt that the Mets' biggest need heading into the offseason was to fix their wretched bullpen. And there's no doubt that Rodriguez is a big part of the puzzle in that regard. But they also play in the same division as the reigning world champions and a pair of clubs in the Marlins and Braves who are capable of winning 85-plus games if things break right.

New York has some elite talent -- Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, David Wright, Johan Santana -- but it also has a roster that is perilously thin at the margins.

The immediate spotlight from the deciding game of the ALCS focused on two players. One was Matt Garza, the series MVP who pitched seven brilliant innings in Game 7, allowing just two hits and one run. The other, as has been covered at length, was David Price, who went from pitching in the Florida State League at the start of the year to getting the four outs that clinched the pennant for Tampa Bay.

Somewhat overlooked in this process was Rays centerfielder B.J. Upton, who was hitless on Sunday night. But we can't ignore his contribution just because of one 0/4. Upton ended up hitting .321/394/.786 for the series, with four homers, a double, four walks, and 11 RBIs. Combine that performance with three homers in four games against the White Sox, and he's had a pretty special month. In fact, those seven homers put him just one shy of the record for a single postseason, shared by Carlos Beltran (2004) and Barry Bonds (2002).

Upton hit just nine homers during the regular season, but that can at least partially be attributed to a nagging shoulder injury. He hit 22 in 2007, and the 24-year old is considered to have outstanding power potential. When this is all said and done, he may be the breakout star of this postseason, and he's yet another bright spot in Tampa's future plans.

For four teams, the next two days begin the quest for a World Series championship. For the rest of them, rumors abound about what they can do to get there next year. It's called the hot stove season, and frankly this stove has been malfunctioning for years ... bringing forth many deals that have little if any chance of happening, while occasionally getting something right. Yankee blog Was Watching brings our attention to the first of many such rumors, and it's a big one:

Frank Russo, on New York Baseball Digest Radio's Yankee Special, mentioned that his connections have shared that the Mets are accepting inquiries for Carlos Beltran. And, further, according to Russo, his sources have also shared that there's a rumor of a possible deal between the Mets and Yankees which would breakdown as follows:

Carlos Beltran from the Mets to the Yankees in exchange for Robinson Cano (with the Yankees taking on most of Cano's contract), either Jose Veras or Brian Bruney, Ian Kennedy, and another prospect from the Yankees system.

For crying out loud we're not even in November and already rumors like this are flying? The hot stove has to learn to pace itself.

It's a cliche if I say that tonight was a wild night in the NL wild-card race, right? Because as lame as that sounds, this was one crazy night for the Mets and Brewers. The Mets got things started by storming back from a 6-3 deficit with a run in the seventh, two in the eighth, and one in the ninth on a walk-off Carlos Beltran single. Apparently they thought that losing the wild-card lead because Mike Hoffapauir went 5-for-5 with two homers and five RBIs was as insane of an idea as it sounds.

The Brewers, however, wouldn't be outdone tonight. Yovani Gallardo made his return after almost five months on the shelf and sparkled in four innings, strikiing out seven Pirates and only allowing one run, thus proving that cynical bloggers don't always know what they're talking about. Still, the Brewers went into the ninth inning tied with the Pirates because they couldn't figure Zach Duke out. That set the stage for Ryan Braun to hit a walk-off grand slam (the Brewers' second walk-off in three games against the Pirates) and keep pace with the Mets. Wild.

The season is a three-game season now with the Mets hosting the Marlins in what could be the last three games at Shea Stadium while the Brewers host the Cubs at Miller Park. Whichever team misses the playoffs is going to be labeled as a choker, but they were both fighting that reputation pretty hard tonight.

With the playoff chase coming down to the wire, our MLB editor rounds up the five biggest pennant race stories in Eye Toward October.

- Big Papi Busts Out: The news was almost entirely bad for the Red Sox Monday night. Josh Beckett looked pretty shaky. Boston allowed the Yankees to stay alive another day -- mostly because umpire Gerry Davis got in the way of a two-run double.

The big bright spot? David Ortiz is rounding into playoff form. Big Papi had a terrible April, then injured his wrist in May, then lost the hitter who protected him for years, Manny Ramirez, at the end of July. But he's hit two home runs in the last two days, one to the opposite field in Toronto and a second to the deepest part of Fenway Park Monday. He's driving the ball like he rarely has this year, and Boston needs him more than ever heading into October.

The Red Sox are not as vulnerable as they were in 2005, the last time they had a championship to defend, but they also don't appear quite as strong as the teams that won in 2004 and 2007, especially with J.D. Drew likely out for the season and Mike Lowell hurting too.

The loss of players like Lowell, Drew and Ramirez and the general ineffectiveness and inconsistency of guys like Tim Wakefield, Manny Delcarmen and Jacoby Ellsbury means Boston needs its stars more than ever come playoff time.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

New York Mets (75-60) at Florida Marlins (68-67) 7:10 PM ET

Hey, why not? Beltran's in Florida, just like Chad Johnson was when he changed his name. And after last night's grand slam against the Marlins to cap a ninth inning rally which started with two outs and nobody on, Carlos Beltran can give himself a cool nickname like Uno Cinco and then take a trip to Broward and get that name changed. Of course, I'm sure that Uno Cinco would have much rather done what he did last night against Adam Wainwright in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS, but that's being picky.

Say what you want about the National League West. The Diamondbacks and Dodgers might only need 84 wins to capture the division crown, but at least both teams are trying to get better. The NL East appears to be a stronger overall than its counterpart in the West, but there's a whole lot more desperation and angst to go around on the Atlantic seaboard.

In Queens, there is plenty of reason to panic over the shape of the Mets' bullpen, which blew another lead in the ninth inning in a loss to the Pirates Monday afternoon. Whether it has to do with having a certain mentality or not, it's clear that Billy Wagner is the only New York reliever who is reliable in the ninth inning, and he's going to be out for a few weeks.

Wagner and the bullpen is a microcosm for the problem the Mets seem to keep stumbling on -- they have no depth on their roster. (It's worth noting, too, that GM Omar Minaya did nothing to fix that problem at the trade deadline.) A season-ending injury to Wagner, Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Beltran or Johan Santana would devastate New York in a way unlike a similar injury to one of Philadelphia or Florida's stars.

One of the main frustrations Met fans had with former manager Willie Randolph was his "lack of fire", certainly during those times where players could have used some protection during arguments with umpires. New manager Jerry Manuel changed that by going out to protect Carlos Beltran after he argued a strike call, after which Runge made it a point to extend the argument by taking his mask off and extending the argument. Manuel went out to protect his star because he felt he was baited. Manuel was then bumped by Runge (yes, the manager was bumped by the umpire) and then was run. That's where the video picks up as Manuel flips a lid at Runge. Moments later Beltran, who had the audacity to call Runge's move "weak", was run as well.

No, you're not supposed to argue balls and strikes. But players do it mildly and are shown a little leeway. Beltran however, was confronted by Runge, and there was no call for Runge bumping the manager. Kudos to Manuel for protecting his player. Unfortunately for the Mets, it didn't work ... they lost 11-0 to the Mariners, who have the worst record in baseball.

It's much too early to make any judgments about Jerry Manuel's tenure as Mets manager but I think it's safe to say this, he's an interesting fella. From his gangsta threats against Jose Reyes to his fertilizer comments, he's proven himself a much less predictable listen than his predecessor. He's not showing any signs of slowing down, either.

While discussing his desire to see more Met runners in motion, Manuel made a strange comment concerning Carlos Beltran. Beltran has an excellent 82% success rate on stolen base attempts but Manuel would like to see it go down.

"I would hope Carlos will run into a couple outs just to get that percentage thing out of his mind. That's going to be addressed because that's an important part in what we're going to do going forward."

Manuel's general point about making things happen on the bases has some merit. Given the way the Mets are hitting these days, taking a few chances could be fruitful. I don't see where Beltran picking his spots judiciously is such a bad thing, though.

Stolen bases are helpful when they come with a minimum of outs given away and Beltran seems to do a good job of knowing when his chances at success are highest. Assuming some batters following Beltran start hitting a little better, it would be a bad move for Beltran to give himself up.

(H/T Baseball Musings)