Today, Rob Neyer (baseball Analyst for ESPN) ruined my day. I'm sure he didn't mean to, but nevertheless, the mother fucker did it. Today he publicly put Adrian Beltre's name in the MVP discussion.Granted, he didn't say "Adrian Beltre should be MVP," but he might as well have. All he was saying is that Beltre belongs in the discussion, which was more then enough to light a fire under my ass. That is that sensitive of a subject. He might as well have said Brandon Roy was gay.
Now Adrian Beltre might be a good person. He might be the male version of mother Teresa. I have never heard a bad story about the man. That being said, I do not like him. Few professional athletes have caused me to swear at the TV as much as Adrian Beltre did during his tenure for the Seattle Mariners.
For those of you who need a reminder of why I hate Adrian Beltre, alow me to catch you up to speed. Adrian Beltre was a promising young third basemen who came up in the Dodgers organization. In 2004 at age 25, he was second in the NL MVP voting by playing solid 3rd base, and leading the Dodgers to a division title with a .334 average, 48 home runs and 121 RBI's.
That winter, he told the world he was taking his talents to the Puget Sound to play for the Seattle Mariners. To this day, it remains the most exciting free agent signing any of my teams have made.
However, over the next 5 years (at an age when players are their most productive), Adrian Beltre delivered a production level on par with a shit sandwhich. He never hit .300. He never hit 30 home runs. And he never topped 100 RBI's. The Mariners who won 90 games the year before we signed him, never sniffed the playoffs with him in uniform.
Now there are Adrian Beltre apologists who say "Stop complaining! He gave you gold glove defense." Fuck you. We aren't talking about a David Bell, who made about 1 mill a year. We are talking about a player who was paid to come in and save an anemic offense. We were only two seasons removed from a defense who had set a then record for best fielding percentage ever(2001, look it up). We needed a bat. Improving the defense was not a high priority.
Adrian was paid to anchor a batting order. He was supposed to be the power hitter we had been lacking since A-Rod left and Edgar retired, and Boone's body mysteriously broke down. We paid him handsomely to do so. He recieved an average of 12.9 million dollars per season just to put lumber on a ball. Obvioulsy with that money we would hope he would continue our new tradition of good defense, but the power is what he was being brough it on for. Apparently that message got jumbled up. Because while he developed into a spectacular fielder (2 gold gloves as a Mariner), his offense often left something to be desired.
The only thing Beltre was better at than fielding ground balls was hitting them. What a douche.
Mercifully, his contracted ended last. Adrian Beltre took his monsterous (and un powerful) forearms, his crappy batting average and his glove, and shipped off to Boston over the winter. Not one single Mariner fan gave it a second thought. We signed another good fielding 3rd baseman (Chone Figgins) for half the price and that was that.
Although it did become a joke among my friends that he was going to remember how to hit this seasons so he could get a big pay day again next year.
Sadly, Figgins sucked and Beltre found his power stroke tucked away in the back of his closet. All season he has been paying homage to his 2004 campaign, hitting the shit out of the ball again. I had him on my fantasy baseball team, and everytime he hit a home run it felt like a cock punch. I should've been happy- he was producing for my fantasy team. But after every good game I found myself thinking "oh now he hits the ball."As of right now he leads the league in doubles and looks like he will have his first 30 hr, 100 rbi, and .300 average since he left LA.
Here is my nightmare scenerio:
Boston is currently 6.5 games out of the wild card with 11 games to go. They would need a mircile to somehow back into the post season. But for arguements sake, lets say they do. Lets say Boston goes ape shit for the last 11 games, led by an onslaught from Adrian Beltre, they find a way to pass Tampa Bay for the Wild Card.
Now because Josh Hamilton injured his ribs, the MVP debate has reopened for the first time since June. If Adrian Beltre were to help lead Boston's miricle comeback with a .300/30/100, he would quite possibly step in and become the favorite for MVP.
(Also helping his cause would be the piece Rob Neyer undoubtably has ready to run in case this scenereo takes place- bringing up the fact that Adrian Beltre was robbed in 2004 by Barry Bonds. And since the Baseball writers (and the world) hate Barry Bonds, this would sway sympathy votes from on the fence voters)
Again this is a nightmare scenerio. Josh Hamiltons numbers are the stuff legends are made of. But as long as the Sox have life and Hamiltons ribs keep him out of the line up-it remains possible.
It has been hard enough watching the Mariners this season. They're offense is bad beyond description. With two weeks left they have a .238 team average and have scored 2 or less runs in game 68 times. They are averaging almost a run and half per game under the American league average. You can almost guarentee they be losing 100 games this season (only 7 more losses).
This sucks. Next year doesn't look any better. Please, please, please Boston, just roll over and eliminate yourself. I cannot bare the idea of this season being capped off with an Adrian Beltre MVP.
I will now cut my ear off and give it to a whore.
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