It’s a pretty exciting time for the San Francisco Giants and the Hall of Fame. Sure, Barry Bonds and Duane Kuiper have been passed over more times than I was anytime we picked teams for any sport at the playground. But in December, Jeff Kent was elected to the hall by the Contemporary Baseball Era committee. And next year, Buster Posey, Bruce Bochy, and Dusty Baker will all be on the ballot, and all three will be expected to make it at some point or other.
And on Tuesday, they added another name to
the hall: Forever Giant Carlos Beltrán.
Beltrán was one of two players elected to the Hall of Fame this year, joining fellow outfielder Andruw Jones. And while most people remember the nine-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove winner, and one-time champion for his superstar tenure with the New York Mets, around here we associate him with the Giants.
The switch-hitter played just 44 games for the Giants in the 2011 season, but he was electric in them. As he approached free agency following a seven-season tenure with the Mets, New York — a team that won just 77 games that year – flipped him at the deadline to the Giants, who were hoping to recreate their World Series magic from the year prior … and, most importantly, replace Posey, who had suffered a brutal season-ending injury early in the year.
Beltrán was every bit as good as advertised, hitting .323/.369/.551 with seven home runs. Unfortunately the Giants, who were 60-44 at the time of the trade, went just 26-32 following the trade, and missed the playoffs.
Unfortunately, despite his individual success, the fan opinion of Beltrán has always been fairly cold, as many see the trade as a short-sighted move by Brian Sabean. The Giants traded pitcher Zack Wheeler — their 2009 first-round pick who was, at the time, in High-A — for Beltrán, and Wheeler has gone on to be one of the top pitchers of this generation, with three All-Star appearances, two Cy Young runner-ups, and a few hundred million in earnings. Beltrán, meanwhile, entered free agency and signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. And many fans view the move as selling the future for a mild run at the present.
It’s an unfair way of viewing it, of course. The Giants were in position to make a run, and you can’t blame them for chasing one of the top hitters in baseball and giving themselves a chance. And while Wheeler has gone on to have a fabulous career, it didn’t fully materialize until after he, himself, had reached free agency and left the Mets; he made his first All-Star team and earned his first top-10 Cy Young finish a full 10 years after the trade.
Congratulations, Carlos. You played more games with the Mets and the Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals and the New York Yankees and the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers than you played with the Giants. But you still played for the Giants.
