All the smoke has cleared, all the paperwork has been signed, and Carlos Beltran is officially a San Francisco Giant.
Has a nice ring to it, no?
The deal is for prospect Zack Wheeler, who will be sent to the New York Mets, while the Mets send $4 million along with Beltran to help subsidize a majority of the $6 million he is still owed for the 2011 season. Beltran packed his bags with the Mets in Cincinnati on Wednesday night and flew to Philadelphia to join his new team; but not before he treated a bunch of Mets fans to a steak dinner to show his appreciation for everything they had done for him. Very classy move.
General Manager Brian Sabean spoke to beat writer Andrew Baggarly about the move earlier today, here's a bit of what he had to say:
"Carlos is the player we coveted all along. As we knew what the price of doing business was, we tried to create other options. It became apparent no matter which way we turned, we'd take a hit on our prospect list. In this case, as we were getting close to make the deal, we crossed the bridge with trading a pitcher over a position player with almost equal potential."
In regards to the team itself, Sabean was very cognizant of the fact that a move like this affects the players:
We really felt we needed the help. We owed it to the city, we owed it to the players on the field and in a lot of ways, as defending World Series champions, you have to try to defend it any way you can.
Sabean also knows how important the fan base is to any franchise, because without them you can't pay for salaries for guys like Beltran. This was a move to show the fans that the Giants are serious about repeating:
I don't want to sound hokey, but our fans deserve this as much as the team. Their support has been off the charts. We are trying to defend. We owe it to the players, too. They've done an amazing job under a lot of pressure and adversity. We're in first place. Hopefully this shows we mean business."
In other news I reported last night that the Giants would send Brandon Belt back to the minors, but it appears that they will send Bill Hall instead after being activated from the DL do to his gnarly shin gash from being spiked a few weeks ago. Belt will likely be the Travis Ishikawa of 2011 as a defensive replacement at first base and pinch hitter most of the time.