BRIAN T. SMITH ON BELTRAN.
An ageless Beltran returns to a suddenly stacked lineup 12 seasons after bolting following memorable playoff run
You can’t boo Carlos Beltran anymore.
I mean, you can. But then you’d be hating your own team. And who wants to scream mean, awful things at the Astros when they’re having their best offseason in more than a decade?
Baseball’s hottest team in December: your Astros.
Four months after Beltran really crossed the line and became a Ranger — and almost 12 years after he first broke Houston’s heart and became a mega-millionaire Met — the man who unleashed 12 playoff games baseball still can’t forget is finally an Astro again.
When does spring training start? And how long until Opening Day?
Here’s another thrilling Q: How stacked are the 2017 Astros? #STACKED That’s all Dallas Keuchel tweeted Saturday, after Beltran to the Astros on a one-year, $16 million whopper hit the social-media wire. That’s all that needed to be said.
Yulieski Gurriel in mid-July. Brian McCann and Josh Reddick on the same day Nov. 17. Now, Beltran back in orange and blue. “I was very happy here.” “I wanted to stay.” That was Beltran in early August, just after the Rangers had done what needed to be done at the trade deadline and the Astros hadn’t done anything.
An inspiration
I found the 102-game Astro sitting by himself in a corner of the opponent’s clubhouse inside Minute Maid Park.
Carlos Correa had just called Beltran one of the “greatest switch hitters to play the game” and one of Puerto Rico’s finest baseball products.
“He inspired a lot of people back home,” Correa said. “He inspired me to play the game the right way.”
Beltran, 39, was still figuring out his seventh team and learning new names. He also knew what was coming the second he returned to his old home plate.
BOOOOOOOOO.
“He rivals (Albert) Pujols with the most boos,” said Astros manager A.J. Hinch, reflecting on the partly humorous, partly serious hate that has shadowed Beltran since he took the big money in New York, unable to live with the 2005 Astros’ insistence on not giving him a no-trade clause.
“As a player, you want security,” Beltran said four days after the 2016 trade deadline. “You want to make a commitment to the city and at the same time make sure that you play there for ‘X’ amount of years, without worrying about trades and things like that.”
The player who almost carried the Astros to the 2004 World Series now has the no-trade clause he wanted 12 seasons ago. The 19-year vet, who went a ridiculous 20-for46 with eight home runs and 14 RBIs in the ’04 playoffs, now joins a brilliant young core to form the Astros’ best on-paper lineup since the franchise’s lone World Series run, which just happened to occur the year after Beltran left.
‘Baseball should be fun’
“It’s been 12 years, brother,” said Beltran, referring to the boos that surrounded his name in August. “Honestly, there’s a lot of things that I don’t even remember, other than the great playoff that I had. … But, hey, it is what it is. It’s baseball. Baseball should be fun.”
It sure as heck should be for the 2017 Astros. And when it comes to everything that went down after 2004, all can be now forgiven between Beltran and the Astros’ faithful.
This helps the healing: George Springer, Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve, Correa, Beltran, Reddick, Evan Gattis, McCann, Gurriel.
You can move the names and spots around all winter. You know Hinch will. And for the first time since Jeff Luhnow’s massive rebuild was ignited, you should be able to stare at your television or listen to the beauty of AMradio and not want to scream in nightly frustration every few Astros batters.
Boston wanted Beltran. So did the Yankees. The Astros got him after pulling off the McCannReddick stunner, and they’ve done it all before the winter meetings have even begun.
How critical was the Beltran signing to the theoretical fortunes of the 2017 Astros? He saved me from having to write another column about the Texans’ endless mediocrity. He also brightened the day after all that Art Briles-interviewing-with-the-Cougars nonsense had me on the verge of projectile vomiting inside Milwaukee’s otherwise hospitable airport.
Bring on 2017
Beltran cracked 29 homers and 93 RBIs for two AL teams last season while posting a .295 average and .850 OPS, so he should have at least one more strong season in him during his 40th year on earth. Even if he falls off, the Astros are insured by the limitation of a one-year deal and he should be an invaluable resource for Correa, Altuve and the rest of the club’s new generation to learn from daily.
Or just think of it this way: Colby Rasmus made $15.8 million last year to hit .206 and disappear in September.
Four years ago, there was Lance Berkman-back-to-theAstros chatter. It never happened, Berkman briefly became a Ranger before retiring and the Astros ended up losing a franchise-record 111 games.
Twelve seasons after all the booing began, an ex-Ranger is an Astro again. It couldn’t have happened at a better time.
I’ll see you at the ballpark in April, when Beltran is serenaded like it’s 2004 all over again. The 2017 Astros can’t come soon enough.