The fifth-best outfielder in New York.

Actually, now that the Yankees have acquired Matt Lawton, maybe Beltran is the sixth-best outfielder in New York.

Snap!


I don't root for the Mets, so part of my reaction is sour grapes. I don't like when the Mets win and I still suspect they'll be battling the Expos for last place in their division. Forget about catching the Braves, forget about the wild card: I'm not buying it.

If they prove me wrong, then they prove me wrong. It wouldn't be the first time baseball surprised me.


But this Carlos Beltran worship is sickening. Carlos Beltran is not a "gamer" and Carlos Beltran does not deserve any slack. Carlos Beltran sucks.

If Beltran played halfway up to his contract, then the Mets probably would be battling the Braves for the division title.

If Beltran has a great last month of the season, it will be too little, too late.

You don't pay a guy that much money to be outslugged by Chris Woodward.

You've got bullpen problems that will keep you from the playoffs? Well, you wouldn't have bullpen problems if you took $17 mill and spent $1 mill on a light-hitting centerfielder and the remaining $16 mill on the bullpen. It's called "opportunity cost."


To put the spotlight on a truly great player in New York, I'm going to put ARod's season in perspective, vis a vis Carlos Beltran.

I feel the need to reprazent and recognize, since Dan Graziano and Mike Lupica don't seem to want to talk about ARod anymore. You know, since ARod hasn't made an error in two months and has stopped hitting into so many imaginary rally-killing double plays.

Beltran is .267 (123-for-460), 14, and 62 with 31 games left in the season.

ARod is .320 (157-for-490), 40, and 105 with 31 games left in the season.

Imagine Beltran hits his stride, relaxes, gets more comfortable, allows the game to come to him, goes on a streak that has eluded him all season. Say he gets four at-bats per game, gets two hits every game, along with one homerun and two rbis each and every game.

Here are the resultant final stats for Beltran: .317 (185-for-584), 45 hrs, and 124 rbis. Basically, if Beltran bats .500 with a homerun every game, he still won't catch Alex Rodriguez.

In fact, ARod could get zero hits for the rest of the season and it's still a pretty damn good season. ARod could literally go 0-for-September and it would still be just about the best season by any Yankee 3b I can remember.