In Discussing Contracts

Tav-For strictly contract and what he (Beltran) gets paid and does he's not worth it. That being said I don't agree with the howard contract. Way way way too much money for a guy who really only hits hour as rbis are a false stat and his ba isn't good. He got king albert money and he's not king albert. Beltrans gets paid right compared to what bay is getting but I think they are both way overrated and way overpaid. I could see beltran go if we get the pieces back.

Brendan-Actually King Albert is underpaid. He signed a 10 year 105m contract back in 2002. I don't really have an opinion about Howard's contract. Although he is more than just a HR guy. His OBP (which in my opinion is more important than batting average is always .360+. Tav, you remember when we went to the Phillies game many years ago. They actually played the Superman theme when Jim Thome came up to bat. For them to trade him in favor of Howard means that they saw something. They were considering offering Howard to the Mets for Milledge. (Remember that was when they were both top 10 prospects and there was no rivalry to the extent that there is now. It was the NL East against the Braves back then.) I think its funny that he got that contract with his own father as his agent. Last year, reports were that he was offered Pujolz/Beltran money and he wanted A-Rod money. I thought he was nuts. Well, he got A-Rod money. One is worth what somebody is willing to pay him for I suppose.
Beltran has been worth every penny for baseball reasons alone. I have always said that Reyes is the engine of that offense. Beltran has been the transmission. His first season was poor because he got hurt but still played to justify his contract. When he finally got going he got Mike Cameron's head jammed in his face at high impact. After that he has been a consistent anchor in the line-up until last season. He is tied for the Mets single season record for home runs. Has won multiple gold gloves, and has been in the top 3 in all offensive categories for most of his tenure. I am trying to think of a more valuable center fielders in the past decade. Can't think of too many. Andrew Jones maybe. Matt Kemp is in the early stages but does not have near the body of work. Hunter/Victorino/Sizemore are all in that second tier below him though Sizemore would be a closer second. Who am I forgetting?

Tavman-Ok I will agree that King Albert is underpaid. If he was getting the Howard contract I would say, "that's about right". Howard isn't worth that but you are worth what someone will give you. Now I'm not sure where you are getting you stats but you're wrong. Howard had two years of great OBP one that was a crazy 412 and another that was 392 but two of the three last years it's was under 340 and the 360 the third year wouldn't even put him anywhere in the top ten. He's 27 in OBP since he's playing. Hardly anything insane. He does however always finish in the top ten in OPS and top five in HR but still not worth 25 mil to me. Now as for Beltran, again I'm not sure where you are getting your stats but he has never finished in the top 3 in any of the major statistical categories. His best HR was in 06 when he finished 5th. Only one other year was he in the top ten. Same can be said for Extra Base hits. And that's the thing. Throw out 06 and he's been just a really good ball player. Nothing amazing. Only once in the top of the league adjusted OPS (again 06), Slugging (06), OPS (06) and Adj batting run and wins (both 06 as well) And that's just in the NL. But you know what he has been in the top ten of every year in the league is the highest paid. In 08 he was the highest paid guy in the league and last year number 2. Would you say he's a top 10 player? Not according to the stats. Barring his 06 career year he's not on the top ten anywhere. The names you see Pujols, Berkman, H Ramirez, Cabrera, C Jones, Holliday, Fielder, Braun, Gonzalez and Carlos Lee are all consistently in the top ten. You can't say that about our 19 mil plus man. Now you can talk about injuries but he has only been injured last year. He missed about 25 games in 06 (which add to the impressive state of that year) but until last year he was playing a full season and still not producing the numbers someone of his supposed stature should be putting up. You say he's top three so I assume you must mean Mets because thats' where he is top three. Wright and Reyes are more valuable to the team and Wright's name is in the top ten in statistical categories a lot more than Beltran.