Rob Neyer on ESPN runs down the best and worst deals made by Scott Boras. Out of 10 deals, only three of them does Neyer find to be a good deal for the team who signed the player. Carlos Beltran is among the three Neyer lists as a good deal for his team. He writes the follow about Beltran :
When the Mets signed Beltran, the thinking — well, my thinking — was that the Mets had been over-awed by Beltran’s brilliance as a member of the Astros in the 2004 postseason, and that while Beltran would be excellent for the Mets in the first season or two of his new deal, in the long term he’d be overpaid. Instead he struggled in his first season with the Mets, but has been outstanding since. Considering salary inflation and Beltran’s age — he turns 31 next April — if he can stay reasonably healthy the Mets should receive solid value for their $119 million investment.
See, it’s really not so hard to fare well when signing one of Scott Boras’ top clients. All you have to do is sign one of the best players in the majors when he’s still in his 20s (Rodriguez and Beltran) or one of the all-time greatest pitchers when he’s still in his early 30s (Maddux). No problem!
Its incredible how quickly inflation kicks in when you’re talking baseball money. What once seemed like a huge amount of money just a few short years ago seems like peanuts in comparison to contracts today.
The Mets have to be pretty happy about the fact they have their core in David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Beltran locked in for the next few years under very good contracts.
