Beltran a Free Man

[syck]

Looks like Beltran's bat headed elsewhere

From staff and wire reports

HOUSTON — Carlos Beltran's stay in Houston almost certainly will be short.

The Astros failed to reach an agreement with the All-Star center fielder before an 11 p.m. CT Saturday deadline, and Beltran is all but certain to leave the team he helped come within a win of its first World Series appearance.

Beltran's desination: The New York Mets, according to the Houston Chronicle.

The newspaper reported that Astros owner Drayton McLane was told by Beltran's agent, Scott Boras, that a deal is being finalized with New York.

"It slipped through our fingers in the last, last few minutes," McLane told the Chronicle. "It was just some sticking points. It should never, never have gotten to this."

Under the rules of baseball's labor contract, Houston cannot sign Beltran until May 1 — virtually assuring he'll go to another team. The Astros had been bidding against the Mets and perhaps other teams.

Beltran and Boras made the Astros sweat this one out. Houston general manager Tim Purpura had said that Houston made its final offer to Beltran on Thursday. Boras had been seeking more than $100 million and the Astros reportedly had offered $105 million over seven years.

"Scott called us to let us know they were going to go in a different direction," Purpura told the Associated Press. "I don't know if shaken is the right word, certainly disappointed."

The Mets dispatched a delegation to Puerto Rico to meet with Beltran and Boras on Monday. Over the past few months, the New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs and Detroit Tigers also were thought to be pursuing Beltran.

Regardless, the courtship of Beltran will be a bittersweet memory for Houston.

The Astros were 38-34 and two games behind in the NL wild-card race before they acquired Beltran in a three-way trade on June 24 that sent closer Octavio Dotel to Oakland and catcher John Buck to Kansas City.

With Beltran, Houston went 54-36 (.600) overall including a 36-10 finish to win the wild card .

Beltran, who spent parts of seven seasons with Kansas City, then sent his price soaring during a remarkable postseason run with the Astros, batting .417 in the NL championship series with four home runs, five RBI and four steals. He also hit .455 with four homers and nine RBI in the first round.

Since the Astros' season ended in Game 7 of the NLCS in St. Louis, Houston officials had little contact with Beltran.

During negotiations, Purpura said the Astros only talked with Beltran once. That was during a Dec. 22 meeting at the team's spring training camp in Kissimmee, Fla.

And as the deadline approached Saturday, Purpura said the Astros and Boras didn't really discuss specifics of the offer until late in the afternoon.

"The serious parts of this only happened in the last six hours," Purpura said. "Really, I think we ran out of time. Mostly, it's time and distance. Certainly I regret the fact that we didn't deal with some of these things earlier — but we didn't control the pace of the negotiations."

Without Beltran and the loss of All-Star second baseman Jeff Kent to the Dodgers, the Astros will have a hard time persuading Roger Clemens not to retire.

Clemens, 42, has said he would make a decision in January whether to retire or play. The Rocket intended to quit after the 2003 season, then changed his mind and signed with his hometown team, winning the Cy Young Award for a record seventh time.

"Certainly we will welcome Roger back," Purpura said. "We're not going to shift into a rebuilding mode because of this."

Purpura said the candidates to replace Beltran in center will most likely be Jason Lane, minor-league prospect Willy Taveras or Craig Biggio, who held the position before Beltran joined the team. He also said Houston had not ruled out a trade to upgrade the spot.

***

Contributing: The Associated Press and Houston Chronicle

[YellowDiscipline]

I've read that Boras and the Mets are already drawing up the paperwork and he could sign today.

[y2jerichoholic]

yep, Beltran signed with the Mets today, being an Astros fan, this sucks, and hopefully Roger Clemens will come back.

[Lowerdeck]

Oh well, the Mets still suck. They got an aging roster, plenty of large contracts. Hopefully he'll be miserable with the losing for being so greedy.

[sahyder1]

Oh well, the Mets still suck.  They got an aging roster, plenty of large contracts.  Hopefully he'll be miserable with the losing for being so greedy.

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[Cole]

yep, Beltran signed with the Mets today, being an Astros fan, this sucks, and hopefully Roger Clemens will come back.

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[EWRFan]

It seems that the difference was the no trade clause. The Astros refused to give Beltran that clause, while the Mets offered more money and the no trade clause. Beltran said today in my local newspaper that if the Astros had given him the no trade clause, he would have signed the deal even for less money.

The Mets are still pursuing Carlos Delgado, but it is unlikely that he will end there.