Bye, Bye, Beltre

One of arguably the greatest thirdbasemen to man the hot corner for the Seattle Mariners, Adrian Beltre, is gone. It seemed like maybe the Mariners were on the verge of bringing him back and that the rest of league either couldn't easily afford him or had no space for him. Despite fitting into both of those categories, the Red Sox were able to get him.

And Beltre wanted Boston as well. Apparently, he turned down two other offers that were longer, one for 3 years and one for 4, and a bit more lucrative since they average the same amount yearly as Boston's offer of 14 million over 2 years. At least one of these suitors, if not both, were either the Oakland Athletics or the Baltimore Orioles, but with Beltre being one of only 2 Mariner free agents to be offered arbitration, it seems that the Mariners would have been at least one of the other teams to offer Beltre a deal.

While Beltre was a fan favorite and his glove fit him in nicely with the Mariners defensive strategy, Safeco's long distance to leftfield was not something that Beltre's swing traversed enough to make him want to stay. The green monster is good deal easier pop a few flies over and should greatly improve Beltre's chances of finding the kind of power numbers that initially attracted the Mariners in the first place.

Also, the Red Sox have been perennial post season challengers for the last decade, getting through the first round of playoffs 5 times, and winning the World Series twice. While the Mariners are putting pieces together that will guarantee a close battle for the AL West, the Red Sox have overstocked themselves in a chance to take on the Yankee for AL East dominance, but promise to be the team to beat for the Wild Card if they can't top their division. Maybe Beltre wanted a better chance at his own series ring.

For the Mariners, this moves the process of team building forward. Figgins is sure to find himself at third now, meaning Jose Lopez may still be manning second. Also, Beltre leaving will free up about 7-10 million in payroll that was planned to go his way. That means that there is still a free agent signing or two possible and with Jack Z at the controls, we're sure to get some payoff from the moves.

All the best to Beltre, but he and the Sox better watch themselves if they also make the playoffs.