Reese Kaplan -- How Smart a Choice Was Carlos Beltran?

Everyone has a favorite type of ballplayer.  Some love strikeout artists who plow through a lineup with seemingly little effort, making the very act of contacting the ball a challenge to one's ability to handle velocity, spin and location over the plate.  Others like location specialists who induce weak contact rather than long balls (think John Franco).  They don't strike out as many as the flamethrowers like Armando Benitez, but then they also don't walk the ballpark nor send baseballs into orbit.  

Others like guys who almost defy you to hit something past them or outrun them, making acrobatic fielding attempts on balls others would not have been able to reach.  Some like the speedburners who seem to turn every ground ball into a race and every walk, infield hit or other cheap way to reach first base into a double.  Then there are others who defy you to pitch the ball past them and view each modern at-bat as a means of propelling the ball to a new personal distance record.

Carlos Beltran was none of these individual types.  You hear the expression about someone being a five-tool player and that pretty much was Beltran's forte.  He could run, field, hit with power and (usually) was a difficult guy to strike out.  He built a Hall of Fame career, achieving Rookie of the Year, 9-time All Star recognition, 3-time Gold Glove honors and a 2-time Silver Slugger.  

Although not yet eligible for the Cooperstown vote, in 2021/2022 Beltran will be on the ballot based upon career numbers of .279, 435 HRs, 324 Stolen Bases as well as all of those other honors while playing twice for the Astros, as well as the Royals, Mets, Giants, Cardinals and Yankees.  While not in the Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron or Ted Williams caliber, if you look up the numbers you'd be shocked to find he was just as valuable as Mr. Marilyn Monroe.

Beltran is unfortunately more recognized for a called third strike for the Mets vs. the Cardinals in the playoffs than for anything else he accomplished on the positive side of the ledger.  He was cast aside by the Mets for a future solid starter who contributed more to the doctors' winter vacation budgets than he did towards Mets' championships in Zack Wheeler.  

That declaration of over-the-hill was a little premature as he left the Mets for the Giants in 2011 yet managed to continue as a full time player through 2017.  He's got a ton of money and an enviable reputation as a ballplayer.  Nothing can go wrong...right?

Well, unfortunately, superstar ballplayers seldom contribute enough as managers to make themselves noteworthy.  Think of the many star ballplayers you admired who went on to attempt transitioning to the lineup pencil.  

There's Don Mattingly, Robin Ventura, Paul Molitor, and others who never pushed their teams nearly as far as you would have thought.  Then there are countless others who hung up their playing cleats but never to pick up the almighty tiny pencil like Alex Rodriguez, Mike Schmidt, the Steroid Scammers and others who were not thrust into the dugout to impart their playing wisdom on others.  

While there's certainly more "marketability" in a former Met who is a likely Hall of Famer in Beltran than there is in an accomplished former Met minor league manager and major league coach like Tim Bogar, is it the right move?  After granting a pitching coach managerial reins to dubious results, what makes the Wilpons and BVW think that this rookie who doesn't even need the job will be any better?

Since the GM inherited the over-his-head pitching coach/manager, you would think he'd have gone after someone with a more credible track history of achievement as the boss.  The marketing-first selection of Beltran caught many folks by surprise, kind of underscoring the inexperience.  

Even back in the Ball Four days, Jim Bouton sounded off about superstars not understanding the differing level of abilities of fellow ballplayers.  Granted, the 2020 clubhouse and beyond will be much more channeled through front office statisticians, so maybe I'm making much ado about nothing.  Or maybe I'm just bitter over leaving one's bat on his shoulder in a game-winning situation.  

With rookies you never know what you're going to get.  Maybe he'll be the 2020 managerial equivalent of what Pete Alonso delivered as a player.