RED SOX: New Sox on Beltre

So the Sox signed Adrian Beltre, who was with Seattle last year (and the 4 before that) and became a superstar in Kansas City. He is a great third baseman with a pretty good bat. Luckily, it was a one year deal worth $9 million, and Beltre has the option for next year at $5 million.

He broke into the majors with the LA Dogders, and was at the time the youngest player in the major leagues. In 2004 (with the Dodgers), he finished 2nd in the NL MVP voting. That year at age 25, Beltre batted .334 with 48 home runs and 121 RBIs. He had a .388 on base percentage and a whopping .629 slugging percentage. His 1.017 OPS was good for fifth in the league, and he had 376 total bases. All remain career highs.

He was a free agent after '04 and signed a five-year, $64 million deal with the Seattle Mariners. His best season with them was 2007, when he batted .276 with 26 homers, 99 RBIs, and an .802 OPS. Beltre never had an on-base percentage above .327 with Seattle, and his peak slugging percentage was .482. But last season, he hit just 8 homers and drove in 44 runs in 111 games. He was plagued by a shoulder injury last season, and also had to go on the disabled list after taking a grounder in the groin (he was not wearing a cup). In both 2007 and 2008, Beltre won the American League Gold Glove award at third base after recording fielding percentages of .958 (2007) and .964 (2008).

One of Beltre's quirks -- beyond not wearing a cup, of course -- is that he has a habit of appealing to the first base umpire on his own check swings, which theoretically could result in him getting strikes called during his own at-bats.

My opinions on the trade are

1) his defense will be great, much better than aging Mike Lowell.

2) he takes walks, but not as many as we would like.

3) he doesn't have the pop he used to, and I hope I see him hitting well, if not for power.

4) Lowell's trade-value just crashed. We will be giving him away for nothing.