beltran reaches two year deal with cards

ST. LOUIS -- A familiar face opposed to this in the diamond, Carlos Beltran is going to be about the Cardinals' side.

The six-time All-Star consented to terms for a two-year contract with St. Louis on Thursday evening, pending a physical. As outlined by Yahoo.com, the sale will probably be worth $25 million.

Beltran has played for the Royals, Astros, Mets and Giants within a 14-year Major League career, finishing this year's season with S . fransisco. He was on the list of top remaining free agents left that you can buy and would represent on the list of Cardinals' biggest external signings in numerous years.
"Beltran is often a proven outfielder who obviously has become a 2010 tough opponent from the Cardinals for a long time," said Cardinals' senior vice president John Mozeliak in a very statement. "It is going to be nice to obtain his bat and competitive nature discussing us rather than on the opposite side of your field for an additional few years."

The last player to sign with the Cardinals for upwards of couple of years without already being in the organization was Adam Kennedy in November of 2006. The final time St. Louis gave above $20 million bound to a complimentary agent merely not already in the organization was winter months of 2001-2002, if this signed Tino Martinez and Jason Isringhausen.

A switch-hitting outfielder, Beltran has one of baseball's most well-rounded offensive games. He or she is a lifetime .283 hitter with both on-base ability (employment .361 average) and power (.496 slugging percentage). He's the single most efficient base-stealers in primary League history, with 293 steals in 334 attempts to have an 87.7 percent rate of success. In the year 2011, he put up a combined .300/.385/.525 line in 142 games with all the Mets and Giants.

The 34-year-old native of Puerto Rico will prove to add depth to some Cardinals lineup that is to be without Albert Pujols in 2012. Pujols signed while using the Angels for a free agent earlier in December.

Beltran, a three-time Gold Glove winner in center field, relocated to right field in 2011 because made his which were found to full strength from knee surgery. He's going to likely start this year's season in right field, with Lance Berkman moving to first base, while Allen Craig fades due to her own offseason knee operation.

Once Craig comes home, Beltran could possibly still play a good amount of right field. But younger crowd could easily get a longer period in center field, spelling Jon Jay against left-handed pitchers and allowing new manager Mike Matheny lots of flexibility for making out his lineup.

Famous in St. Louis as being the victim of Adam Wainwright's strikeout that ended the 2006 National League Championship Series, Beltran posseses an extensive history with the Redbirds. Vehicles starred in the 2004 NLCS the location where the Cards edged the Astros in seven games, and faced both of them for an NL player plus Interleague Play, as he was with Kansas City.

Published December 23rd, 2011

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