Adrian Beltre

nbsp;  The quintessential example of a player who completely broke out in his contract year is Adrian Beltre.  Always touted as a budding superstar, Beltre never lived up to the hype in his first six years with the Dodgers.  Then in 2004, he was incredible.  He batted .334, 64 points higher than his .270 career mark.  He blasted 48 home runs, although his career high to that point was 23.  He drove in 121 runs, but he never cracked 100 before, and hasn't since.  He had a slugging percentage of .629, despite never having even slugged .500 in a season.  He also set career highs in runs, hits and on-base percentage, and he hasn't come close to matching those numbers since.  But the Seattle Mariners took the bait, signing him to a five-year, $64 million contract.

Continue reading "Pelfrey Goes The Distance"

nd runners at the corners, Joe Maddon elected to walk the red-hot Ibanez to load the bases and face Adrian Beltre with one out. All it would take was a deep fly ball to score Betancourt from third and the game would be over. Typically managers will bring in the outfield in this situation, to deny the sinking liner. Maddon went one further, bringing center fielder B.J. Upton all the way in to the infiel, to stand in front of second. It was an odd move, and Upton could be seen saying "What the ----?"

Continue reading "Rollicking Ride Against the Rays"

nkees.  The Twins have been rumored to be interested in a power-hitting third baseman, such as Adrian Beltre of the Seattle Mariners, but those talks have supposedly cooled off.  Minnesota is looking to move a starting pitcher in any potential deal, in order to make room for Francisco Liriano, who is healthy at long last, and tearing up Triple-A.  The Yankees have been beleaguered by a plethora of injuries, and are in the market for an outfield bat, a starting pitcher and a left-handed reliever.  It is doubtful that they will trade Ian Kennedy or Phil Hughes in any potential deal, considering they chose not to move either young arm in return for Johan Santana in the winter.

Continue reading "Johan Santana Takes the Hill With ..."

As I expected, Richie Sexson was signed by the one team in major league baseball who signs every single castoff, just in case he might turn it around in pinstripes: the Yankees. The temptation of that short porch in Yankee Stadium right field, combined with Sexson’s power potential, was too tempting to the team that claimed Jose Canseco off waivers in 2000, just to be sure he didn’t go to a division rival.

Continue reading "Sexson a Yankee; LaHair a Mariner"

r, of course, not sign him at all.

But, anxious to make his stamp, Bavasi signed him, then signed Adrian Beltre the next day, hoping that Beltre's sudden surge in power and plate discipline--doubling his home run output in 2003 while almost doubling his walks--would continue.

Continue reading "Sexson Becomes Ex-Son"

OPS is almost thirty points higher than it was two weeks ago), while the best slugger on the team, Adrian Beltre, had a swell-looking .253/.324/.449, and was hitting fifth.

Riggleman is likely looking to mix things up and get the Mariners hitting, and these numbers speak volumes about the dull set of tools he’s been given to work with. Still, one wonders if Clement will be getting some time hitting higher in the order, or if Riggleman wants to give him some confidence sooner. You might make an argument for this, as well as for using Beltre to protect Vidro, but this seems like a waste of Beltre.

Continue reading "Clement and M’s Show Some Life"

Sexson ($15.5M for a 1B hitting .217/.297/.392)
Vidro (a $8.5M DH hitting .222/.268/.325)
Adrian Beltre ($13.4M for .226/.303/.423)
Jarrod Washburn ($9.85M for 2-7, 6.09/1.55 ERA/WHIP)

Continue reading "Buh-Bye Bavasi"

y, but the franchise thinks it's big-market, throwing out big contracts to guys like Richie Sexson, Adrian Beltre and Jarrod Washburn, all of them fair-to-middling players. Beltre signed his deal right after a season that just screamed "fluke!" and his numbers have shown as much. Sexson never was much good at anything but hitting the ball a country mile now and again. Both Sexson and Beltre are hard swingers with good power when they do make contact, but big K numbers when they don't.

Continue reading "Season Prospects for the Mariners"