Silver is Adrian Beltre’s Best Friend

The 2010 MLB award season began slowly for the Red Sox, who were shut out of the Gold Glove category, but Adrian Beltre got a much deserved trophy on Thursday. Beltre took home the Silver Slugger award, marking his incredible season with an exclamation point. The Silver Slugger award goes to the best all-around offensive player at each position in each league and is not an unfamiliar award for Boston fans. Since 2001, Sox players have won 14 Silver Slugger awards, including 6 for Manny Ramirez and 4 for David Ortiz. Over that same span of time, the Sox have had at least 1 winner each year and multiple winners on 4 different occasions. Many believed that this year was another multiple-award year with David Ortiz taking home the DH prize, but Vladimir Guerrero was just a little bit better and took his team into the World Series. Regardless, Beltre deserves the award and his agent, Scott Boras, will certainly use the trophy to his advantage.

The award for Beltre comes at an interesting time. He is in the midst of free agency with multiple suitors and is looking for a long-term deal to have some security. According to Boras, who shovels more bullshit that most politicians, “he has never seen more interest in a player than Adrian Beltre has this year.” Given his past massive contracts with the likes of Alex Rodriguez, I somehow doubt that is actually true. What I don’t doubt however, is the high-caliber player of Beltre and the desire for many teams to try and bring him in at the hot corner. He is a strong defensive force who makes the un-makable plays and has an unbelievably quick and powerful bat. In 2010, Beltre hit .321 with 28 home runs and 102 rbis, while appearing in 154 of the Sox 162 games. He is a highly coveted player that is widely respected in the locker room and if the Sox can convince him to take a 3-year deal, would be a key piece in the Sox contending in 2011.

The problem sits squarely in the last line of the previous paragraph. The Sox don’t want to lock up the 31-year old in a long term deal, because he has reached his career peak already and there are innate risks to committing tons of future dollars. The Sox would be willing to pay a fairly high price I believe, but for a shorter-term deal. Beltre and Boras want the job security in 5 years guaranteed, but maybe the Sox can somehow work out a contract with options for years 4 and 5. Boras is the sleaziest super-agent in sports, so he is going to draw some hard lines and will certainly squeeze the most out of Beltre’s future employer, whether that is in years, money or both. If teams are unwilling to commit long term, the Red Sox have to be considered front runners for the Silver Slugger’s services.

Beltre now has 2 Silver Slugger awards, has 2 Gold Gloves, was an All-Star this past season and finished 2nd in the MVP vote in 2004. He has accomplished a lot over the course of his career and brings invaluable experience to the table each and every night. Whoever lands him, he will be a strong asset to the organization, I just hope the Red Sox make the investment. He is a big part of the reason the Sox won 89 games in 2010, despite the jumble of players and injuries and continued to excel at a high level, no matter who was hitting around him in the lineup. If that’s not a guy you want to build a team around, I don’t know who is. I expect the Beltre saga to drag on for a bit of time, but come February, I hope he is reporting to Spring Training in Fort Myers, FL.