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Third Base: Your Ticket to Riches
2004-01-19 15:00
Cub Reporter and Transaction Guy Christian Ruzich e-mails me upon hearing this news and asks, "Is it just me, or does five million seem like an awful lot to give Adrian Beltre?" Of course it is. The Dodgers paid Beltre $3.7 million in 2003, and he proceeded to stumble on the treadmill and nearly get flung off. He had an on-base percentage of .290 last season and an OPS of .714. For the more advanced out there, Beltre's park-adjusted OPS+, according to Baseball-Reference.com, was 89 on a scale where an average player is 100. I'm sure it makes no one in the Dodger administration happy to sign Beltre to a near 33-percent raise, as the Dodgers did today. Chalk this one up to the position Beltre plays: third base, where there is a talent drought throughout baseball. Oh - and of course, this Frank McCourt-induced offseason of paralysis for the Dodgers. They could not risk declining Beltre salary arbitration: Beltre led the Dodgers in home runs last year, and the team has made no acquisitions to make itself less dependent on him. And Beltre fielded superbly. However shaky Beltre has been, he's still the best they've got at the position, by far. And I know you're tired of hearing it, but Beltre isn't even 25 yet. That matters. At this point, the $1 million to $4 million that he's being overpaid is the least of the Dodgers' problems. Heading into his free agent year, with the Dodgers presumably a bit more on track organizationally, Beltre will have to earn his next raise. (I won this one over Ken Gurnick. He predicted $6 million for Beltre; I had him at $4.5 million.)
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