Red Sox Discuss Beltran: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

If I asked you what the 2011 Red Sox team's weakest link was, how would you answer? John Lackey would likely come to mind; some fans might even lump the rest of the pitching staff in with him. I'm sure Carl Crawford would also come to mind for many of you as well. The $142 million man's struggles in his first year in The Hub are well chronicled, and rightfully so.

But consider this for a moment. Crawford hit .225/.289/.405, while the seven players who played right field in 2011 (that includes Adrian Gonzalez) combined for a similarly terrible .233/.299/.353. That OPS of .652 was good (or bad enough) for 29th among major league teams last year at the same position. Only the Mariners had worse production.

There should not be any debate over the need to improve the right field position. And while prospects Josh Reddick and Ryan Kalish are certainly options for the position, a team with a $162 million payroll certainly could and should do better than a duo with less than 200 major league games between them.

Today, writer Gordon Edes broke the news that the Red Sox have begun internal discussions about acquiring Carlos Beltran. That makes perfect sense considering he's the best right fielder on the free agent market.

But just because he's the best available player at the position does not necessarily mean that he makes the most sense for the Red Sox. The Red Sox have a variety of things to consider such as price, age, health history, draft pick compensation, versatility and probably 100 other factors and statistics that the front office takes into account.

When it comes to Beltran, there's a lot to be excited about. He's a switch-hitting, seven time All-Star coming off a season in which he hit .300/.385/.525 with 22 home runs, 39 doubles and 84 RBI. He's also won the gold glove three times as a center fielder, which really doesn't mean a whole lot on it's own considering Derek "Cement Shoes" Jeter's won the award five times.

But both the eyes and the statistics will back up the fact that Beltran is at least an above average center fielder. And that range could be put to good use in the roomy confines of Fenway Park's right field.

There are also other factors which make Beltran appealing. Super agent Scott Boras (when he was still Beltran's representative) was smart enough to put a clause in Beltran's contract stating that he can not be offered arbitration at the end of the 2011 season.

That means that unlike other Type A and Type B free agents, Beltran will not cost any draft pick compensation. That should be an important factor for any GM looking to make a team that's not only competitive now, but well into the future.

Beltran also has tremendous postseason numbers. Between 2004 with the Astros and 2006 with the Mets he hit .366/.485/.817 with 11 home runs in 22 games. But it's probably not wise to draw any conclusions from a sample size that small.

That's not to say Beltran doesn't have his warts, perhaps the biggest one being his health over the last three years. Knee problems limited the outfielder to just 81 games in 2009 and 64 games in 2010. And his age is also a concern.

At age 34, Beltran is at about the age that most baseball players' skills seriously start to decline. Of course, elite talents tend to put off the decline a little longer than the Mike Lowell's of the world.

There also the issue of Beltran's lack of experience at the position that he would be playing. He's played just 137 games in right field and the ball looks a lot different coming off the bat at the corner outfield positions.

Then again, Beltran's history of a center fielder could also come in handy should Ellsbury became hurt or needed a day off.

There's also personality issues to consider. Beltran was at odds with his former employer, the Mets, last year when he supposedly had knee surgery without the team's permission. Beltran and his agent Boras argued that the surgery was necessary, but the Mets obviously felt differently.

It's hard to know what really happened since I'm neither Beltran or a member of the Mets front office, but I wouldn't worry about the incident too much. There was similar much ado about nothing made over disagreements between Jacoby Ellsbury and the Red Sox regarding is rib injury in 2010, and that's all water under the bridge now.

The Boston fans who were calling into radio stations claiming Ellsbury had to go because he's "too soft" have quite a bit of egg on their faces after his MVP caliber 2011. Not that they'd ever admit it.

And finally, there's the issue of Beltran's monetary cost. It would be surprising if he did not make upwards of $12 million a year. And while there's talk of Beltran possibly accepting a two-year deal, he'll certainly be looking for more security than that.

This would be a much bigger issue if his agent was still Scott Boras, but Beltran's unlikely to accept a two-year deal any time soon. And by the time Beltran does sign a deal, there's a good chance that other alternatives such as Josh Willingham and Michael Cuddyer could be off the table.

When all is said and done, does the positive outweigh the negative? Let the debate begin.