It didn't take long for the Yankees to move on from losing Robinson Cano. The Yankees have officially announced the signing of Carlos Beltran to a three-year deal. The contract is reportedly worth $45MM and will pay Beltran an even $15MM per season as well as provide him with a no-trade clause. Beltran is represented by agent Dan Lozano of the MVP Sports Group.
Beltran had a three-year, $48MM offer in hand from the Diamondbacks, as Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports that the Snakes made Beltran a three-year offer for more than $45MM. Though the Yankees were a bit reluctant to give Beltran that third year, he was known to be a top target for the Bombers this offseason. Beltran was himself keen on coming to the Bronx and is now finally wearing the pinstripes after showing similar interest in his two previous trips to free agency.
Beltran hit .296/.339/.491 with 24 homers in 600 PA with St. Louis last season, and though he turns 37 in April, Beltran has thus far kept swinging a big bat deep into the late stages of his career. He'll no doubt see some DH at-bats in New York but he'll spend most of his time in right field while the more defensively-challenged Alfonso Soriano will be the Yankees' primary DH, USA Today's Bob Nightengale reports.
The D'Backs were just one of several teams were linked to Beltran this offseason, with the Royals also pushing hard to reunite with the veteran slugger. This strong market pushed Beltran's price tag to a third year, topping the two-year, $30MM deal that MLBTR's Steve Adams predicted in Beltran's Free Agent Profile. One team that wasn't in the mix was Beltran's most recent club, the Cardinals, who look to go forward with younger options like star prospect Oscar Taveras in the outfield next season.
Since Beltran rejected the Cards' one-year qualifying offer, St. Louis will receive a compensation pick between the first and second rounds of the 2014 amateur draft. The Yankees already lost their first round pick for signing Brian McCann, and in signing Beltran and Jacoby Ellsbury, New York has also given up its own two compensation picks for Cano and Curtis Granderson.
The Yankees have thus far spent a whopping $311MM for the services of five players (Beltran, Ellsbury, McCann and the re-signed Hiroki Kuroda and Derek Jeter) this offseason. More spending could be on the way for the Bombers if they need a third baseman to replace a suspended Alex Rodriguez, if they want to upgrade beyond Kelly Johnson as Cano's replacement at second base, and once they make their long-rumored bid on Masahiro Tanaka once his posting situation is resolved.
Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News first reported the three-year agreement (Twitter link). Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports reported the total value and yearly breakdown (Twitter links). Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reported the no-trade clause (also on Twitter).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Probably Beltran.
Beltrans contract isn’t even in the same ballpark as Canos. Only you and perhaps Ruin Tomorrow jr thinks the Beltran contract is worse.
Wells is a great bargain for the Yankees. Good for adding depth and platooning.
He could used against left handed pitching and be decent enough.
Club house cancer? You must not follow the reds closely. He has issues with upper management not with his team mates
Beltran’s signed for 3 years. Are the others collectively signed for 7 more?
Let’s assess the offseason thus far.
Offensive replacements: Ellsbury is replacing Granderson. Grandy generated a draft pick, Ellsbury cost them the same pick. Defensively, Ells is better, although Grandy’s diminished range was offset by good glove work. Safe to say – Ellsbury is an upgrade from Grandy. However – Ellsbury’s acquisition moves Soriano to full-time DH, a place that would have been needed for many of the older players occasionally…Jeter, A-Rod if he returns, and maybe to keep McCann’s bat in the lineup at times. They’re a bit better here, but it remains to be seen if the additional value is worth the extra $93 million they paid.
Offensively, Beltran is replacing Cano. This is a downgrade in both offense and defense; Beltran’s defense in right is now adequate at best, whereas Cano is slick and capable. Cano is a middle-of-the-lineup, major offensive performer, while Beltran – still very capable – is approaching the end of the line. Defensively, the Yankees are definitely much worse as a result; Beltran is sending Ichiro to the bench, and in spite of being older, Ichiro is still a plus defender; Neither Brian Roberts nor Kelly Johnson will come close to providing either the offense or defense that Cano did.
Finally, Brian McCann is a nice addition, but injury prone. If A-Rod’s suspension is upheld, that’s who McCann is essentially replacing…because at the moment, the Yankees have no third baseman if the suspension is upheld. They’re better here, but the suspension status is going to dictate if it’s a lot better or just slightly better.
The suspension is causing a question mark for the Yankees that is about to have them run out of time. They seem to be waiting on Tanaka’s posting status; but they don’t seem to be in on any of Garza, Jimenez, Arroyo, Santana…..and that’s a pressing need with the retirement of Pettitte.
The bullpen doesn’t look as good as last year either. Joba’s no real loss, but they will miss Boone Logan and unquestionably Mariano Rivera. Matt Thornton couldn’t make the Sox postseason roster, so it’s hard to see him being a big difference maker.
All in all, it’s hard to see that the Yankees are any better right now than they were.
His OBP can be considered a fluke when you factor in the HBP counts. His OBP against LH was .347 last year. If we take away HBP out of the equation, it’s .307