When the Texas Rangers were eliminated by Toronto during the postseason, veteran Carlos Beltran, who has become a free agent, said he would not be retiring.
He added that he hoped he would be playing again with Texas. However, Jon Daniels the general manager of the Rangers said that he would love to have every free agent back under the correct circumstances, but allocating resources is what it is all about.
If Beltran must look elsewhere, he will have a number of suitors on his doorstep. Even though the veteran would be 40 to start next season, he batted .295 with 29 home runs and 33 doubles.
One team known to be interested in Beltran is Boston. With David Ortiz now retired, Beltran would make a great fit at DH for the Red Sox.
In addition, the Astros are interested. Beltran was an Astro for 90 games after he was traded in 2004 to Houston.
During that short period of 90 games, Beltran had 23 home runs, 23 doubles, 7 triples and stole 28 bases. He batted .435 with 8 home runs and 14 runs batted in during just 12 playoff games.
He became a free agent following that season and signed a big deal with the New York Mets.
Toronto has also become connected with Beltran. Those however are rumors in case the Blue Jays cannot sign Edwin Encarncion and Jose Bautista who became free agents at season’s end.
The Yankees may trade Brian McCann as they have their catcher for the future in Gary Sanchez. If that is the case, they may want Beltran to DH for them.
Those are four teams – Red Sox, Rangers, Blue Jays and Astros –that are interested in Beltran’s services, and more are likely to appear before he decides where he will play.
For his career Beltran has 2617 hits, 421 home runs, 536 doubles and 312 stolen bases.
He is just one of 33 MLB players in history to have scored 1500 or more runs and knocked in that many or more runs.
He may not have any more than 1 or 2 seasons left, but he certainly will help any team he signs for.
