The Cubs confirmed Tuesday night that they have made a contract offer to free agent Carlos Beltran, though the length of their general proposal to the superstar center fielder is five or six years and not the gigantic seven- or eight-year agreement that agent Scott Boras is seeking at estimates of as much as $15 million a year.
Boras told the Associated Press on Tuesday that all teams involved in the Beltran negotiations had tendered offers. It’s believed that the Cubs, if they become serious contenders, would come close to the six-year, $90 million bid the Houston Astros are thought to have made in trying to retain Beltran.
“We’re certainly at the point now where we’ve gotten offers from all involved clubs,” Boras said.
But the Cubs and Boras have discussed only broad parameters, and Cubs general manager Jim Hendry has not spoken with Boras since last week. Hendry also hasn’t met with Beltran personally and so far has no plans to do so.
The Chicago Tribune’s Dan van Dyck writes that a Beltran to Flushing scenario could likely result in Magglio Ordonez moving across town to the Cubs.
Beltran’s signing with the Mets would create a sort of Boras Bundle, if you will.
Here’s the scenario: The Astros, Cubs and perhaps Tigers and Orioles all need an outfielder if Beltran goes to the Mets. Once Beltran is gone, a market for Ordonez would be created automatically with the teams that lost out on Beltran, thus generating a second bidding war.
Ordonez certainly would be a cheaper alternative to Beltran, although he cannot play center field and cannot steal bases. Several teams have expressed interest in him, pending Boras’ release of medical information on his surgically repaired knee and inspection by team physicians.
Assuming he is healthy enough and would sign an incentive-filled contract”and assuming Sammy Sosa cannot be traded once the Mets are out of the picture”Ordonez would be a fit for the Cubs in left field. He wouldn’t send the Cubs’ payroll skyrocketing and he wouldn’t require a seven-year deal. But, if healthy, he could pass or exceed the numbers Moises Alou put up last season”.293 average, 39 homers and
Ordonez told the Tribune a month ago he would like to stay in Chicago and play for the Cubs, meaning the Cubs could win a mini-bidding war. Plus, the Cubs need him because their current options in left field are Todd Hollandsworth and Jason Dubois.