Two years into a five-year, $64 million contract, Adrian Beltre has produced a .262 average, 44 home runs, and 176 RBIs. However, after the All Star break in 2006, Beltre slugged .552 with a whopping 18 home runs. Does this strong second half bode well for a turn-around in 2007, or will Mariners fans have to deal with 'A-Drain' once again? This blog intends to follow the 2007 season for Adrian Beltre, and the Seattle Mariners, and promises to hold no punches.
The Mariners won today, relying on some clutch base hits and an effective bullpen to best the Orioles 4-3. Not instrumental in that victory was Adrian Beltre, who went 0-for-4 and left six runners on base.
The only part of the game I caught was the fifth inning, in which the Mariners scored three runs to take the lead for good. During that inning, Adrian Beltre came up after Carl Everett's two-run double scored Raul Ibanez and Richie Sexon. Orioles starter Rodrigo Lopez struggled all inning, falling behind on batters throughout. By the time Beltre came to bat, Rodrigo had run up counts of 2 balls, 1 strike to Ichiro (who singled), 0-1 to Jose Lopez (who grounded out, moving Ichiro to third), had Raul Ibanez single on the first pitch to knock in Ichiro, walked Richie Sexson on four straight balls, then had Everett double on a 2-0 count. Point? Rodrigo Lopez was very hittable, not to mention wild. So what does Adrian do? Strike out looking.
But who's really surprised? There was a man on base, after all. Since Beltre's two-run single in the bottom of the eighth last Sunday against Detroit at home, Beltre has spent the week with plenty of opportunities to drive runners in, but unable to do so. He's had eleven such chances, yet not one hit to show for it, with only two RBIs via a ground-out and walk.
So Beltre snapped his 80-some homerless at-bat streak yesterday. Now he needs to put a stop to this 0-for-11 streak with runners on.
The only part of the game I caught was the fifth inning, in which the Mariners scored three runs to take the lead for good. During that inning, Adrian Beltre came up after Carl Everett's two-run double scored Raul Ibanez and Richie Sexon. Orioles starter Rodrigo Lopez struggled all inning, falling behind on batters throughout. By the time Beltre came to bat, Rodrigo had run up counts of 2 balls, 1 strike to Ichiro (who singled), 0-1 to Jose Lopez (who grounded out, moving Ichiro to third), had Raul Ibanez single on the first pitch to knock in Ichiro, walked Richie Sexson on four straight balls, then had Everett double on a 2-0 count. Point? Rodrigo Lopez was very hittable, not to mention wild. So what does Adrian do? Strike out looking.
But who's really surprised? There was a man on base, after all. Since Beltre's two-run single in the bottom of the eighth last Sunday against Detroit at home, Beltre has spent the week with plenty of opportunities to drive runners in, but unable to do so. He's had eleven such chances, yet not one hit to show for it, with only two RBIs via a ground-out and walk.
So Beltre snapped his 80-some homerless at-bat streak yesterday. Now he needs to put a stop to this 0-for-11 streak with runners on.
ADRIAN BELTRE HIT A HOME RUN!
That's right, Adrian Beltre ended his season-long homerless streak at 85 at-bats with a lead-off home run off in the eighth inning off Baltimore reliever Sendy Rleal in today's 8-6 win over the Orioles. Beltre's home run completed the scoring of the game, and continued Beltre's streak of clutch hitting with the bases empty.
Could this be a corner turned by Beltre? The beauty of having this blog called "Bad Bad Beltre" is that if suddenly gets hot, Beltre would be "bad' in a whole different connotation.
The Mariners now have video of Beltre's blast on his page. Check it out.
The Mariners were able to beat the Orioles due to a 6-run sixth inning, their biggest inning of the year. During that inning, Beltre was right in the thick of things, coaxing a two-out walk from Orioles reliever Jim Brower- in for Bruce Chen who had stymied the Mariners up until that inning- to keep the inning going and eventually scored on a two-run single by Yuniensky Betancourt.
Beltre's final line: 3-2-1-1, bringing his average to .198 and his home run brought his OPS to .540.
So, congratulations on your home run, Beltre! Looking forward to your next one, coming May 25th against the Orioles!
That's right, Adrian Beltre ended his season-long homerless streak at 85 at-bats with a lead-off home run off in the eighth inning off Baltimore reliever Sendy Rleal in today's 8-6 win over the Orioles. Beltre's home run completed the scoring of the game, and continued Beltre's streak of clutch hitting with the bases empty.
Could this be a corner turned by Beltre? The beauty of having this blog called "Bad Bad Beltre" is that if suddenly gets hot, Beltre would be "bad' in a whole different connotation.
The Mariners now have video of Beltre's blast on his page. Check it out.
The Mariners were able to beat the Orioles due to a 6-run sixth inning, their biggest inning of the year. During that inning, Beltre was right in the thick of things, coaxing a two-out walk from Orioles reliever Jim Brower- in for Bruce Chen who had stymied the Mariners up until that inning- to keep the inning going and eventually scored on a two-run single by Yuniensky Betancourt.
Beltre's final line: 3-2-1-1, bringing his average to .198 and his home run brought his OPS to .540.
So, congratulations on your home run, Beltre! Looking forward to your next one, coming May 25th against the Orioles!
Let's go immediately into today's game with the Orioles, in which the Mariners lost 5-2, thus ending their winning streak at one.
On the bright side, Adrian got 40% of the Mariners' hits. That's right, Beltin' Beltre slapped two bases-empty singles to account for the Mariners' lone hitting off O's "ace" Daniel Cabrera (he of 13 walks in 13.2 innings so far this year) as Cabrera kept the Mariners in check through five. Good thing Adrian's able to come through with base hits with the bases empty, and keeping those clutch RBI ground-outs for when the bases are full with no outs.
Beltre did reach base in the seventh after striking out, due to some heads up play and a wild pitch thrown by Cabrera. After a sacrifice by Jeremy Reed- another disappointment, but not nearly as deserving of his own blog- Beltre did some dicey base-running and stole third. (I say dicey because Beltre was all ready in scoring position, and could've easily made out #3 at third, a big no-no in the Baseball Rulebook.) This is Beltre's seventh stolen base of the season, more than doubling the three SBs he had last year. What is Beltre's agenda- to prove that he's the fastest in the line-up, even more so than Ichiro? Or is it to make Mariners fans forget we signed him to plug in the three-hole in the line-up, but instead spent $64 million on a slap-happy speedster who'll burn up the basepaths?
Anyways, an infield ground-out by Yuniesky Betancourt nullified any chance of pushing Beltre across the plate. (Betancourt must suffer from the opposite of what's ailing Beltre. He must only get run-scoring singles in extra innings against the World Champs, like he did against the White Sox last week. But in the seventh inning against Cabrera? No dice.)
At any rate, by going 2-for-3, Beltre raised his average from .175 to .193. Still no homers, though. Thus raising his homerless at-bat streak to 83. Which brings us to....
Homerless drought update:
Willy Taveras (93)
Rafael Furcal (88)
Orlando Hudson (84)- game in progress
Placido Polanco (88)
Brian Roberts (87)
Jason Michaels (87)
Juan Pierre (87)
Adrian Beltre (83)
Carl Crawford (83)
Scott Podsednik (82)- game in progress
Rondell White (79)
Tomorrow the M's face the O's Bruce Chen, who Adrian has torched to the tune of .133 in 15 career at-bats, with no home runs. I don'tsee that homerless streak being ended any time soon...
On the bright side, Adrian got 40% of the Mariners' hits. That's right, Beltin' Beltre slapped two bases-empty singles to account for the Mariners' lone hitting off O's "ace" Daniel Cabrera (he of 13 walks in 13.2 innings so far this year) as Cabrera kept the Mariners in check through five. Good thing Adrian's able to come through with base hits with the bases empty, and keeping those clutch RBI ground-outs for when the bases are full with no outs.
Beltre did reach base in the seventh after striking out, due to some heads up play and a wild pitch thrown by Cabrera. After a sacrifice by Jeremy Reed- another disappointment, but not nearly as deserving of his own blog- Beltre did some dicey base-running and stole third. (I say dicey because Beltre was all ready in scoring position, and could've easily made out #3 at third, a big no-no in the Baseball Rulebook.) This is Beltre's seventh stolen base of the season, more than doubling the three SBs he had last year. What is Beltre's agenda- to prove that he's the fastest in the line-up, even more so than Ichiro? Or is it to make Mariners fans forget we signed him to plug in the three-hole in the line-up, but instead spent $64 million on a slap-happy speedster who'll burn up the basepaths?
Anyways, an infield ground-out by Yuniesky Betancourt nullified any chance of pushing Beltre across the plate. (Betancourt must suffer from the opposite of what's ailing Beltre. He must only get run-scoring singles in extra innings against the World Champs, like he did against the White Sox last week. But in the seventh inning against Cabrera? No dice.)
At any rate, by going 2-for-3, Beltre raised his average from .175 to .193. Still no homers, though. Thus raising his homerless at-bat streak to 83. Which brings us to....
Homerless drought update:
Willy Taveras (93)
Rafael Furcal (88)
Orlando Hudson (84)- game in progress
Placido Polanco (88)
Brian Roberts (87)
Jason Michaels (87)
Juan Pierre (87)
Adrian Beltre (83)
Carl Crawford (83)
Scott Podsednik (82)- game in progress
Rondell White (79)
Tomorrow the M's face the O's Bruce Chen, who Adrian has torched to the tune of .133 in 15 career at-bats, with no home runs. I don'tsee that homerless streak being ended any time soon...
"I think it's a season that, personally, he's disappointed in," said Hargrove. "I think it was a year that he will [improve on] the longer he's here and the longer he's in the American League."
So said Mariners manager Mike Hargrove earlier this year. Thus far these words could not be more inaccurate. As the MLB season gets past the 15% mark, we see a further regression of Beltre. His descent is unabated, but surely every hole must have a bottom? He couldn't do much worse if he went up to the plate blindfolded weilding a mop.
In a year and a half he's gone from sure-fire All Star/Gold Glove to mediocre 2nd tier 3rd bagger and now to sure-fire out. 'But wait,' you say, 'Defense doesn't go into a slump, right?' Wrong. Actually it can, and the once supple rawhide of Adrian's glove has turned to stiff, hard leather.
The man who was signed to fill the 3-hole in the lineup drifts ever further down the card. How long before he trails tiny, slap-hitting shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt in the order? How long before he's replaced by someone with more power - like Willie Bloomquist?
His current 2006 numbers project to final numbers of .175 avg., 7 2Bs, 35 RBIs and 0 HRs. Wait, 0? Yes, 0. On the flip side he's on pace to finish with 42 SBs. However, given that his career total is 71 SBs, it seems unlikely that he will keep that pace up. But how many HRs will he hit? 20? 10? 5? Ugh.
We do know that SafeCo. field is murder on right-handed hitters who aren't on steroids, but how does a guy go from 48 to 19 and lose 80 pts off his avg.? It's not like he was going from Colorado to Seattle, he was leaving a pitcher's park to come up here. His bat looks slow, his ABs are weak. He is, in a word, terrible.
Adrian actually had a better year in 2001 playing with a colostomy bag after a botched apendectomy! Perhaps someone needs to prescribe him another round of Dominican surgery.
So said Mariners manager Mike Hargrove earlier this year. Thus far these words could not be more inaccurate. As the MLB season gets past the 15% mark, we see a further regression of Beltre. His descent is unabated, but surely every hole must have a bottom? He couldn't do much worse if he went up to the plate blindfolded weilding a mop.
In a year and a half he's gone from sure-fire All Star/Gold Glove to mediocre 2nd tier 3rd bagger and now to sure-fire out. 'But wait,' you say, 'Defense doesn't go into a slump, right?' Wrong. Actually it can, and the once supple rawhide of Adrian's glove has turned to stiff, hard leather.
The man who was signed to fill the 3-hole in the lineup drifts ever further down the card. How long before he trails tiny, slap-hitting shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt in the order? How long before he's replaced by someone with more power - like Willie Bloomquist?
His current 2006 numbers project to final numbers of .175 avg., 7 2Bs, 35 RBIs and 0 HRs. Wait, 0? Yes, 0. On the flip side he's on pace to finish with 42 SBs. However, given that his career total is 71 SBs, it seems unlikely that he will keep that pace up. But how many HRs will he hit? 20? 10? 5? Ugh.
We do know that SafeCo. field is murder on right-handed hitters who aren't on steroids, but how does a guy go from 48 to 19 and lose 80 pts off his avg.? It's not like he was going from Colorado to Seattle, he was leaving a pitcher's park to come up here. His bat looks slow, his ABs are weak. He is, in a word, terrible.
Adrian actually had a better year in 2001 playing with a colostomy bag after a botched apendectomy! Perhaps someone needs to prescribe him another round of Dominican surgery.
Baseball is a tricky game. You're hot one week, nothing but zeroes the next. You flub a catch at the top of the inning, you hit the game-winning home-run on the bottom. In fact, the only consistent thing about baseball is its inconsistency.
Oh, and the production from the Mariners' third baseman will be lousy. You can count on that too.
Pretty much every Mariner fan expected big things from Adrian Beltre after he signed his mammoth contract after his 2004 season. I mean, Beltre had just ranked in the Top 5 in the National League in Triple Crown categories and finished second in MVP voting and he was turning 26 years old- surely he couldn't tumble too far, could he? Well as his 2005 results, and his putrid 2006 start, shows, the Curse of the Mariners Third Base (TM) has struck again.
You see, throughout the dawn of time, or at least since 1977, the Mariners have trotted a series of third baseman who have far under-performed the league average. Using the statistics available at baseball-reference.com, I tracked the season-by-season results of Mariners' third basemen's OPS to the average OPS of the American League. (No I do not have a table or chart, if there's enough clamor for one I'll post one.) The seasons rank from the downright horrible- Jeff Cirillo's woeful .555 OPS in 2003 was 198 points below the league-average OPS of .753 (and may have cost the Mariners the division title that year)- to the spectacular- Edgar Martinez's 1992 season, in which his .948 OPS was 232 points higher than the league's .716.
(Some may raise issues with these comparisons- is it fair for me to compare the Mariners' third basemen to the rest of the league, which includes home-run leaders and those with astronomical OPS? Well, you also have to consider those far-reaching OPS will be balanced out the by the tiny Cirillo-like OPS offered by every team's utility infielders. Unless I can find a site that offers the league average production from each position, it's the only comparison I have.)
In the end, over 29 seasons, Mariners third basemen average a .721 OPS to an American League average OPS of .745. Not too shabby, right? Well, subtract the four years Edgar manned the hot corner, and all of a sudden that average OPS of Mariners' third basemen falls to .696, fifty points lower than the .747 league average OPS. Ouch! That's a dramatic loss of production from what's supposed to be one of the most productive positions on the field!
Considering that Beltre's OPS in 2005 was .716, it falls right in line with the traditional production expected from a Mariner third baseman- not too far off the mark from the overall mean of OPS provided by Mariners' third basemen (.721), yet much better than the .696 offered by Mariners third-basemen not named Edgar!
So there ya have it, folks! If you look at it the right way, Adrian's 2005 wasn't so much of a bomb after all! In fact, it should've been totally expected!
Of course, current Beltre's 2006 OPS of .462 would shatter all records for futility!
Oh, and the production from the Mariners' third baseman will be lousy. You can count on that too.
Pretty much every Mariner fan expected big things from Adrian Beltre after he signed his mammoth contract after his 2004 season. I mean, Beltre had just ranked in the Top 5 in the National League in Triple Crown categories and finished second in MVP voting and he was turning 26 years old- surely he couldn't tumble too far, could he? Well as his 2005 results, and his putrid 2006 start, shows, the Curse of the Mariners Third Base (TM) has struck again.
You see, throughout the dawn of time, or at least since 1977, the Mariners have trotted a series of third baseman who have far under-performed the league average. Using the statistics available at baseball-reference.com, I tracked the season-by-season results of Mariners' third basemen's OPS to the average OPS of the American League. (No I do not have a table or chart, if there's enough clamor for one I'll post one.) The seasons rank from the downright horrible- Jeff Cirillo's woeful .555 OPS in 2003 was 198 points below the league-average OPS of .753 (and may have cost the Mariners the division title that year)- to the spectacular- Edgar Martinez's 1992 season, in which his .948 OPS was 232 points higher than the league's .716.
(Some may raise issues with these comparisons- is it fair for me to compare the Mariners' third basemen to the rest of the league, which includes home-run leaders and those with astronomical OPS? Well, you also have to consider those far-reaching OPS will be balanced out the by the tiny Cirillo-like OPS offered by every team's utility infielders. Unless I can find a site that offers the league average production from each position, it's the only comparison I have.)
In the end, over 29 seasons, Mariners third basemen average a .721 OPS to an American League average OPS of .745. Not too shabby, right? Well, subtract the four years Edgar manned the hot corner, and all of a sudden that average OPS of Mariners' third basemen falls to .696, fifty points lower than the .747 league average OPS. Ouch! That's a dramatic loss of production from what's supposed to be one of the most productive positions on the field!
Considering that Beltre's OPS in 2005 was .716, it falls right in line with the traditional production expected from a Mariner third baseman- not too far off the mark from the overall mean of OPS provided by Mariners' third basemen (.721), yet much better than the .696 offered by Mariners third-basemen not named Edgar!
So there ya have it, folks! If you look at it the right way, Adrian's 2005 wasn't so much of a bomb after all! In fact, it should've been totally expected!
Of course, current Beltre's 2006 OPS of .462 would shatter all records for futility!
Hola, muchachos. Welcome to the first (real) posting on Bad Bad Beltre. Ignore the post of the jersey, or feel free to comment on it. Either or, it won't make much difference to me.
Now that this blog is up on running, I feel it would be best to make the initial post regarding Beltre's 2006 season. While it's tempting to start at the beginning and marvel at the amazing depths of Beltre's suckitude, let's just make matters easy and begin with the Mariners' latest game, which would be yesterday's 5-1 triumph over the defending World Champs the Chicago White Sox.
Well, let's start with the positives: the Mariners won. Yayyy! Even Beltre's 0-for-3 performance couldn't put a damper on that outcome. As a matter of fact, Beltre's third inning RBI started off the scoring. That's right, Beltin' Beltre put the Mariners on board first with a clutch ground-out to short with the bases loaded and no outs! Although this may mean that Adrian has yet to get a hit with bases loaded so far this year (0-for-2 on the season) he did manage to pick up his second RBI in that scenario! Way to go AB!
All I could find in the rest of the box scores is that Beltre flied out to the outfield his next two times up. Now, as I live in Portland, OR and don't get FSN, I failed to see any of the at-bats. (In fact, I have yet to actually watch a Mariners game all year.) So I don't know if he battled the pitcher before flying out, and Yahoo! doesn't tell me how 'deep' his fly-out to right was in the fourth.
But Beltre got a ribbie, and that's always cause for celebration! That makes it five, now, on the year in 80 at-bats.
Homerless drought update: A recap on power-outage so far in the 2006 season, Beltre ranks fifith in the majors in most at-bats without a home-run. His peers in futility (who will be dropped from the list as soon as they hit their first):
Willy Taveras (88)
Rafael Furcal (84)
Orlando Hudson (83)
Placido Polanco (83)
Brian Roberts (83)
Jason Michaels (82)
Juan Pierre (82)
Adrian Beltre (80)
Carl Crawford (79)
Scott Podsednik (78)- will Adrian hit his first before Pods?
Rondell White (75)
Beltre is off for three games against Baltimore, who he has a lifetime slugging % of .328 against, including a .182 at Camden. So my guess is his first home run won't happen this weekend!
Now that this blog is up on running, I feel it would be best to make the initial post regarding Beltre's 2006 season. While it's tempting to start at the beginning and marvel at the amazing depths of Beltre's suckitude, let's just make matters easy and begin with the Mariners' latest game, which would be yesterday's 5-1 triumph over the defending World Champs the Chicago White Sox.
Well, let's start with the positives: the Mariners won. Yayyy! Even Beltre's 0-for-3 performance couldn't put a damper on that outcome. As a matter of fact, Beltre's third inning RBI started off the scoring. That's right, Beltin' Beltre put the Mariners on board first with a clutch ground-out to short with the bases loaded and no outs! Although this may mean that Adrian has yet to get a hit with bases loaded so far this year (0-for-2 on the season) he did manage to pick up his second RBI in that scenario! Way to go AB!
All I could find in the rest of the box scores is that Beltre flied out to the outfield his next two times up. Now, as I live in Portland, OR and don't get FSN, I failed to see any of the at-bats. (In fact, I have yet to actually watch a Mariners game all year.) So I don't know if he battled the pitcher before flying out, and Yahoo! doesn't tell me how 'deep' his fly-out to right was in the fourth.
But Beltre got a ribbie, and that's always cause for celebration! That makes it five, now, on the year in 80 at-bats.
Homerless drought update: A recap on power-outage so far in the 2006 season, Beltre ranks fifith in the majors in most at-bats without a home-run. His peers in futility (who will be dropped from the list as soon as they hit their first):
Willy Taveras (88)
Rafael Furcal (84)
Orlando Hudson (83)
Placido Polanco (83)
Brian Roberts (83)
Jason Michaels (82)
Juan Pierre (82)
Adrian Beltre (80)
Carl Crawford (79)
Scott Podsednik (78)- will Adrian hit his first before Pods?
Rondell White (75)
Beltre is off for three games against Baltimore, who he has a lifetime slugging % of .328 against, including a .182 at Camden. So my guess is his first home run won't happen this weekend!
