Day Thirty Eight: Adrian Beltre

...And part two! It's a topsy-turvy world that us Mariners fans inhabit. And perhaps no player has best exemplified this Bizarro existence than fan favorite and generally lovable guy, Adrian Beltre. As mentioned in the previous essay on Richie Sexson, Beltre became a Mariner in 2005 following a season that looks insane. He had 48 homers and an OPS of 1.017. He was 25 years old at the end of 2004 and he played perhaps the best defense of his generation (this was already clear by this point). He was a seven year pro (Beltre came into the league at age 19 in 1998. Crazy to think.), and his future looked paved to the doors of Cooperstown, New York. Expectations were quite high.

And all of the statements above are one hundred percent true. This is the Bizarro World aspect of Marineropolis. Reading off those accolades for Beltre is more true than ever. He has well over 3000 hits, almost 100 career WAR, a slew of Gold Gloves, and is beloved by pretty much everyone in the game. But how did he get from that 48 homer season with the Dodgers to a sure thing Hall of Fame bid? What happened?

Well, from 2005 to 2009 the Mariners happened. In 2004 Beltre had a WAR of 9.6. You certainly can't expect that every year, but Beltre never got higher than 5.6 while with the Mariners. He was twice over 5. This is excellent! You really cannot ask for a more reliable amount of wins generated by your thirdbaseman. Those numbers are largely because of his two Gold Gloves and otherworldly fielding though. He just never put together giant offensive numbers with the Mariners. And here's the rub! The minute that he was released from the Marine Layer Melancholy (tm) he was transported back into the All Star Game and had a WAR of 7.8. That 2010 campaign with the Red Sox was a great bounce back for Beltre at the age of 31 and I was quite happy for him, but it didn't make those wasted years in Seattle any easier.

You see, Adrian Beltre is a Hall of Famer! Over the next decade following that Red Sox renaissance year Beltre put together an unbelievable career. He was an All-Star again in 2011 and was a key part of a Rangers team that played one of the best (and most heartbreaking) 7 game World Series of the 21st century, and won 3 more Gold Glove awards. It was like he was given a second lease on his career. And Beltre made the absolute most of it. He will undoubtedly go into the HOF as a Ranger, but his best season is still that 2004 year with the Dodgers. Those were straight up clown numbers. Which leads me to a very touchy subject regarding Adrian Beltre.

Adrian Beltre is a very nice man. He is so much fun. He plays games with his opponents and teammates alike. He dances in the batter's box, he appears incognito with his family on local department store commercials, simply put, he is one of my favorite players. And my next statement is not in any way a negation of that. How is it possible that Adrian Beltre has somehow escaped even the most benign questions regarding PEDs? My general answer to this curious question would be that nobody sees his numbers with the Mariners as the norm. He was breaking out prior to coming to Seattle and continued his breakout immediately upon leaving. There is nothing but a five year blip of suffering for the otherwise stellar HOF numbers. And as a Mariners fan this view is so frustrating. Because like the Richie Sexson signing that was great for the first two years of his contract, the Adrian Beltre signing looks better and better with each passing year. It's just that he couldn't perform while he was here. He just Mariner'ed it up. In fact, Beltre defined what it was to be a Mariner in the post Piniella days. He is the icon of all things Mariner. You are a Hall of Famer, but while you are a Mariner you are not. That is basically how it has gone. And it's so crucial to remember that when Sexson and Beltre were signed that was decidedly not the culture of the Mariners. It was each of them in their own special ways, and Erik Bedard, and Jermey Reed, and Miguel Olivo and all the rest of soul-sucking shapeshifters, that created the vacuum in the Bush's second term. For better or worse this is Adrian Beltre's legacy in Marinerland.

Poor guy, I always felt sorry for him playing hard for such shitty teams. I don't really feel sorry for him anymore though. He played until he was 39 and had a 30's decade unlike anything we have seen since, well, Barry. But Adrian Beltre didn't do PEDs. He just did the Mariners.

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