Beltran Booted

We Ran Out Of Time.

That's All Houston Had To Report On #15. Of course with this news it looks as if the Rocket may also be blasting off out of Houston, as they will probably not be competitive without Beltran, but they didn't have him at the start of 2004 so I don't exactly see the logic there. Many believe that with Beltran's Houston deadline finally passing that the Yankees would jump into the bidding.

Of course this means I was heading into this weekend hoping that the Astro's would resign Beltran but the longer that he is on the market the more likely it is that the Yanks will jump back in. The Mets are still looking for their one big move to make for an outfielder, and signing Carlos Beltran would probably be the only move that makes them not look like morons (because we all know how the Mets like to make bonehead moves). They were looking to get Sosa, Manny, Giambi... they're just always desparate trigger-happy fools.

That leaves a free agent pool of...

Derek Lowe - close to signing with LA alongside Penny, Perez, Weaver & Ishii.

Carlos Beltran - Most likely a Met, they need to make the big move, but never count out the Yanks, Cubs if Beltran decided he wants to go short term deal after all.

Carlos Delgado - He's gonna be a BoSox, just you wait... maybe Baltimore.

Maglio Ordonez - Maybe an Oriole if they miss out on Delgado. Otherwise maybe Houston, Cubbies, or a Cali team.

OF/1B
Jeremy Burnitz
Ben Grieve
Raul Mondesi
Brian Jordan
Rusty Greer
John Vanderwal
Darren Bragg
John Olerud
Eric Karros
Tony Clark
Brad Fullmer
David Segui

IF
Barry Larkin
Mark DeRosa
Rich Aurillia
Roberto Alomar
Carlos Baerga

SP
Shawn Estes
Aaron Sele
Hideo Nomo
Esteban Loaiza

RP
Rob Nen
Billy Koch
Valerio De Los Santos
Roberto Hernandez
Jose Jimenez
Jeff Nelson
Dan Miceli
Scott Williamson

Sidenote: NYY's Shane Spencer quietly followed Kapler to Japan.

My Gems Would Include Miceli & De Los Santos in the pen, & DeRosa backing up at 2nd base, he's still young - has a lot of potential and would likely come cheap... This rest of this list looks washed up.




Paolo DeVito
Packing For Philly