You can't really compare Beltran's deal with ARod's and Manny's - the finances have changes so much since those deals were signed. Why don't you compare it to Vlad's deal? If you did, the deal wouldn't look nearly as good.

And how about this article at Newsday (a more legitamite source) that says:

"There was a growing public sense that the Mets' chances were gathering momentum yesterday, thanks to a fan Web site report and other speculation. But that may have been a false sense, as there's no real evidence their chances are greater or worse than any of the other three finalists."

One of those finalists seems to be the Yankees. Do you think Boras would accept an offer from the Mets if the Yanks are still in the running? It might turn out that the Mets sign him, but I don't think that Boras is ready to sign so quickly - he still has a couple of days before the Astros' deadline kicks in.

Of course, A-Rod was two years younger (Manny was a year older). Then again, A-Rod's deal was three years longer than what the Mets are offering Beltran.

Of course, the money depends on the present and future direction of salaries - the market has come down, and Beltran's price has to be judged accordingly. After all, the Pedro deal looks great compared to the Glavine and Appier and Hampton and Dreifort and Kevin Brown contracts, but those aren't where the market is today.

Ramirez and A-Rod are such significantly superior hitters to Beltran than the comparison surprises me. Ramirez's OPS+ over the last 11 years is 156. That's average, he's been over that five of the last six years, with a peak of 190(!!) in 2002. A-Rod's OPS+ the year before he signed with Texas was 167, and he was going to be 25 the year after that. And Beltran... just put up, in his best season, OPS+ of 136, and will be 28, three full years older than Rodriguez was.

It's true that Beltran is a year younger than Ramirez was when Ramirez signed with Boston, plays a harder defensive position, and plays it well (unlike Ramirez, playing an eaisier position and does it poorly). But Beltran isn't nearly the hitter than Ramirez is. And comparing a 25 year old SS with an OPS+ of 167 to a 28 year old CF with an OPS+ of 136 just isn't close.

So, no, Beltran isn't going to get Manny money or A-Rod money, and justly so. Beltran is a very good player in many ways, certainly a star, but I would be very, very wary of making him the centerpiece of my team and my lineup at the age of 28 and moving onwards from there.

I totally agree with NBarnes. As much as I like Beltran, and I'd love to have him on the Yankees, it's hard to justify spending $16M/yr on him. I guess one way to justify it is that Bernie's contract is coming off the books after the season, so you'll be paying double for you CF, but then he's just fitting into Bernie's slot (though a little more money).

I'll say it again, if Magglio is healthy, and if he can play CF (which he did do spareingly early in his career), I'd look into signing him. He's cheaper, a bit older, and probably wouldn't be as good a CF (though he's a good RF), but he's a significantly better hitter than Beltran.

Beltran and ARod are both wonderful, all-around players. Manny is a good hitter. Beltran is only being overpaid by a few mil a year. In this off season, in which we've seen Glaus, Sexson, Beltre get far more than they "should" have, Carlos at $16M almost makes perfect sense.

Well said, NBarnes. Beltran is a very good player and had a phenomenal postseason, but ARod and ManRam are future Hall-of-Famers, while thus far --- and he may prove us wrong --- Beltran is only going in the Hall of Very Good. There's a lot more guys going into that Hall than there are going into the big one.

Thanks to sabernar's and others' posts. The comparisons
and subsequent conclusions made by Mr. Pinto are not
meaningful. I don't know if Mr. Pinto wanted to get people
to post here, knowing that his thesis was off track or what. Most of us that take the time to visit here know that
there are all kinds of things you can do with numbers.

In David's defense, he didn't argue that Beltran was as good as A-Rod or Manny. Just that his relative worth when compared to their relative worth implied that his contract was reasonable. I mean Beltran will be earning $4 million less than Manny and $9 million less than A-Rod. None of the above posts really suggest to me that on the scale of value that Beltran isn't worth $4 mil less than Manny and $9 mil less than A-Rod. In fact, they tend to reinforce that notion.

How about comparing whatever amount Beltran ends up with what Vlad got last year? The economics are more similar from last year to this and the two players are fairly comparable.