Congratulations to Carlos Beltran, who was given the Fielding Bible Award as best defensive CF in baseball by the for the 2nd time in the last 3 years (he came in 2nd in 2007). For a complete list of this year's winners, go here.The Fielding Bible Awards are voted on annually by a panel of 10 writers, radio hosts, and researchers, including Bill James, Rob Neyer, and Joe Posnanski. These gentlemen are generally statistically minded fellows, and I consider the awards to be infinitely more relevant than the silly Gold Glove Award.
Beltran remains underrated, in my opinion. He plays the 3rd or 4th hardest defensive position on the field, and is the best at it. Other Mets who placed in the top 10 at their respective positions:
- David Wright, 5th (tied)
- Jose Reyes, 10th
- Johan Santana, 6th
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2 comments:
Beltran's 20 million per season will always be an albatross in terms of gaging his true value. Expectations are for him to be one of the top 5 players in the game based on his contracts and he's just not that. I mean he's arguably the 4th best player on his own team.
Mike,
I'm not sure where you're getting the $20 million from - his contract is 7 years, $119 million for an average of exactly $17 million/year.
Nevertheless, I see your point. He is not one of the top 5 best players in the game. However, I'm not sure that you could say he's the 4th best player on the Mets. I don't know if you're including Johan Santana in this discussion, but I feel pretty sure of myself putting the Mets best position players as follows:
1) David Wright
2) Carlos Beltran
3) Jose Reyes
4) Carlos Delgado
5) ...... big dropoff
I don't know if I'd buy an argument for Reyes over Beltran. Beltran's numbers are superior in every respect except stolen bases and batting avg (if BA matters). Additionally, Beltran is the best CF in baseball, while Reyes is generally regarded as anywhere from 6th - 12th best SS. Maybe the word I should use here is "underappreciated" rather than "underrated?" You're right - it's tough to underrate a guy making as much money as he is.
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