Carlos Beltran Free Agent News: Why Red Sox Are AL Favorites If They Snag Him

While there is no question that Prince Fielder is the cream of the remaining free-agent crop, the next best hitter on the market would have to be outfielder Carlos Beltran.

Beltran is coming off a bounce-back season in which he hit .300 BA, 22 HR, 84 RBI and managed to stay relatively healthy for the first time in three seasons. He split the year between the Mets and the Giants.

While it originally looked as though the Giants would try to bring him back, that is no longer a potential landing spot for him.

As it stands now, there appear to be five teams in the running for Beltran's services with the Cardinals, Blue Jays and Red Sox believed to be among them. The most intriguing of that group, however, may be the Red Sox as adding his bat to their lineup would make them favorites in the AL once again.

Last season was a tough one for the Red Sox, a team expected to be the elite of the American League after adding Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez to an already stacked team. However, injuries and ineffectiveness led the Red Sox to a monumental collapse and they missed the postseason altogether.

The pitching staff has a new look this season, with Tim Wakefield gone and John Lackey out for the season, but is still fronted by three potential All-Stars in Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz and Josh Beckett. Also, the transition of Daniel Bard from setup man to starter will be something to watch.

On to the lineup, though, which was the highest scoring in the American League last season and second in average as the team hit .280 as a group.

Those numbers were despite an incredibly weak right field situation, as J.D. Drew and Josh Reddick combined to hit .251 BA, 11 HR, 52 RBI over 502 at-bats. Reddick carried the duo with a .280 average and while he was better than Drew, he is far from an impact bat.

In signing Beltran, whom the club has at least admitted to having talks about, the Red Sox lineup would be become one of the deepest in all of baseball. On top of that, if Carl Crawford can have a bounce-back season, it would be the best by far.

2012 Red Sox Lineup With Beltran
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
2B Dustin Pedroia
1B Adrian Gonzalez
RF Carlos Beltran 
DH David Ortiz
3B Kevin Youkilis
LF Carl Crawford
C Jarrod Saltalamacchia
SS Marco Scutaro 

With even an average pitching staff, that lineup would put the Red Sox among the game's elite. Adding the switch-hitting Beltran would allow the team to break up sluggers Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz, as well as keeping Pedroia in the second spot in the lineup as opposed to hitting him third, which would likely be the plan as of now.

The American League favorites have only gotten stronger this offseason, as the Rangers added Yu Darvish, the Angels added Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson and the Tigers and Yankees still look strong.

Signing Beltran would not only keep the Red Sox in the running with those teams, but could very well push them into the category of favorites.