A year ago, Carlos Beltran was unwanted.
By Andy Lyons, Getty Images
Carlos Beltran was traded from the Mets to the Giants before the deadline.
By Andy Lyons, Getty Images
Carlos Beltran was traded from the Mets to the Giants before the deadline.
He had a bum knee that might have kept him from playing and was overpaid, making $18.5 million a year in the final two seasons of a seven-year, $119 million contract.
"Things sure have changed," Beltran says. "I mean, big time."
Beltran emerged as the prize of the hitter market in the weeks and days leading to Sunday's non-waiver trade deadline.
The San Francisco Giants won his services, outbidding the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves, and now he's trying to do what he failed to accomplish with the New York Mets? win a World Series.
"I'd love to get that ring," says Beltran, who is hitting .281 with 15 home runs and 67 RBI, although 2-for-17 entering Monday's game. "I wouldn't have accepted a trade here, or anywhere, to a team where I didn't have a chance to win.
"I can't wait to get back to the playoffs."
The Giants, who were two games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks through Sunday, are vying to become the first National League team to win consecutive World Series titles since the Cincinnati Reds in 1975 and '76. They think the addition of Beltran to an offense that ranks 28th in baseball in runs will go a long way toward achieving that feat.
"We owed it to the city," Giants general manager Brian Sabean said. "We owed it to the players on the field. When you're defending world champions, you do have to try to defend that title any way you can. As a result, we made this move.
"Carlos was the player we coveted all along."
And Beltran had a pretty good idea he'd be headed to San Francisco.
He was selected by Giants manager Bruce Bochy over Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen for the All-Star Game. He flew to the game in Phoenix on the Giants charter, where Bochy told him he would be in the starting lineup as the DH. And Giants closer Brian Wilson told a national TV audience while introducing the lineup for the game that Beltran could be a future teammate.
"Let's just say, they treated me good," Beltran says.
And life has been good to him, too.
He is scheduled to open the Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy in his native Puerto Rico on Aug. 18, the birthday of his hero, Roberto Clemente. He spent $2 million on the 50,000-square-foot facility in hopes of providing kids with an opportunity to learn the game.
His wife is six months' pregnant with their second child. And now, after being a poster boy for the Mets' struggles in recent years, he is free to carve out a new image.
Funny what a healthy body can do for the mind and soul.
"It's been hard, I've been though a lot of things, people saying negative stuff about me," Beltran says. "But you know what, I was happy (in New York). I know we were only able to make the playoffs once, but every year we had the opportunity to win.
"I wouldn't take anything back. I'm glad I signed with them. They treated me good. I learned a lot of things about myself, too.
"Now, I've turned the page."
Beltran, 34, is a free agent after the season. He says he has no idea where he wants to play, only that he wants to play.
He never thought he would be highly valued again after doctors told him 1� years ago his career might be over as a result of a bone bruise in his right knee.
"The team doctor told me that there was nothing they could do for me," says Beltran, a six-time All-Star. "Nothing. I didn't want that to end my career. I wasn't going to give up."
Beltran went to his agent, Scott Boras, who suggested he call surgeon Richard Steadman in Colorado. Beltran had arthroscopic surgery in January 2010, costing him the first half of the season. He didn't start hitting until September, posting a .321 average with five homers, but had tendinitis in his left knee all spring.
He kept working with a trainer, and kept believing the pain would go away. Today, the tendinitis is gone, and the production has returned.
"Right now, I'm doing everything I've done in the past," Beltran says. "I feel comfortable. I feel happy. And I'm having fun."
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