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Saturday, December 18, 2004

Beltre in Beantown? 

According to Peter Gammon's latest, it was Boston, and not the Dodgers, who came the closest to keeping Beltre out of a Mariner uniform.
The reason the Mariners had to go to $13 million for five years with Adrian Beltre is that that's where the Red Sox went with Scott Boras. Boston planned to plug the 25-year-old star in at third and go for a cheaper shortstop until Hanley Ramirez is ready, but Beltre preferred the West Coast and wanted $14 million a year over five seasons to go to Boston. So Beltre went to Seattle and the Red Sox signed Edgar Renteria, 29, counting on him being close to his 2002-2003 norm when his on-base percentages were .364 and .394 with an average of 55 extra base hits and 88 RBI. When the Mets were talking about trading their entire farm system for Manny Ramirez, the Red Sox were in position to sign Beltre, Renteria and J.D. Drew, 27.

Its a helluva offseason, folks. The Mariners spend $114 million in a 24-hour span, and the A's trade 2 of the big 3 and may be better off for it. Dan Haren and Dan Meyer both look to be formidable in the near future. The A's have had an interesting offseason. First they trade FOR Jason Kendall, and then they pawn off Hudson and Mulder for the crapshoot (albeit a high upside one) that is prospects. As a Fantasy Baseball wheeler & dealer, I admire the build through trade efforts, but it seems like these deals might have waited till midseason. We'll see. I'm certain that Beane knows more about the players he acquired than I do.

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