Mike Francesa says it all the time and I completely agree with him: Carlos Beltran is under appreciated in this town. Yeah, I was mad too when ended the 2006 season with Beltran's bat lying on his shoulder while watching that nasty Adam Wainwright curveball, but that team had no business being in a Game 7 against a team they were much better than in the first place. To think too what a difference a healthy Pedro Martinez or David Wright hitting close to his average could've made in that series.
But getting back to Beltran, when healthy, as his 5th All-star appearance in 7 years as a Met proved, he's still one of the best in the game. Consider too, the possibility of five 100-RBI seasons as a Met along with three Gold Gloves and let's not forget that the guy has repeatedly stated how much he wants to stay a Met. Sure, he'll be 35 next year, one could make the case that he's back to playing on such a high-level only because he's after that one last big contract and the local media's been practically begging the Mets to get rid of him. But here's the biggest reason to keep Carlos Beltran a Met: there's no one out there who could replace him and thanks to Jason Bay being a flat-out bust, the Mets would be God-awful without him. I mean, a horrible Bay, Angel Pagan and the oft-fragile Fernando Martinez does not leave you wanton for Mets tickets next year, much less any chance of competing with the Phillies and Braves in the NL East. In other words, the Mets must keep Carlos Beltran.
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