The Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Ted Miller seems pretty confident Mariners 3B Adrian Beltre won’t be returning to the form he flashed in 2004. (link swiped from Sports Frog)
The World Baseball Classic made many Mariners fans giddy. Forget the U.S. flop — Adrian Beltre found his stroke!
Beltre, whose first season in Seattle was mediocre at best after he signed a five-year, $64 million contract, belted four home runs with nine RBIs and hit .300 for the Dominican Republic. Surely that indicated he’d rediscovered the rhythm and confidence that produced extraordinary stats in 2004 and earned him his hefty free agent deal, no matter that his bat went limp during spring training games.
Spring training numbers don’t matter, sage baseball men tell us. But the WBC? That was October baseball in March.
Yet here we are, seven games into his second season, facing the nagging possibility that Beltre may be on his way to becoming one of the great busts in Mariners history.
That uncharitable observation doesn’t mean he isn’t trying, has grown fat and happy while counting his money and deserves to be relentlessly hounded at the ballyard.
It only means that, after the Mariners’ 6-4 loss to Oakland Sunday afternoon, his .167 batting average, zero RBIs and zero extra-base hits don’t befit a man earning $12.9 million this year.
It’s becoming more and more likely that when management gazed at his .334 average and major-league leading 48 home runs and 121 RBIs from two seasons ago, they misidentified a passing comet as a new star.
Just out of curiousity (perhaps someone out there is a bigger fan of looking things up than I), what did Beltre weigh in the spring of 2004? I’m neither a doctor nor a nutritionist, but he seemed a tad more physically imposing that year than in seasons prior. Perhaps the combination of Safeco Field and AL pitching has been difficult to adjust to. Or perhaps regular drug testing messes with some hitters’ concentration more than others.
Before the season began Beltre was quoted (either in the _Times_ or the _P-I_, can’t remember which) as saying his wife’s strict new diet should receive the “credit” for his slender new physique as compared to the ’05 edition. Maybe that means she excised the nutritious shakes and creams, I don’t know, but I can easily believe that coming back from such a 2005 as Beltre had he’d be eager for a radical change. I do agree that a weight/OPS chart covering ’04-’05 would be an interesting exercise, but the same could be true of many players.
Maybe George Mitchell could go in-house and commission Bill James to prepare the report.
I’ve read a few articles that say he’s back down to his 2004 weight this season (around 215-220) after gaining 15 or so pounds last year. If you watch enough Mariner games, I think it’s fairly obvious the problem is pitch recognition. Taking monster hacks on curveballs a foot of the zone, and popping up or slapping fastballs to short when he should be pounding them out of the park. Unless steroids have something to do with eyesight, I would guess that that’s not the problem. And yeah, Safeco hates right handed pull hitters.
Tony,
yeah, but what did Beltre weigh in 2004 (his breakout season — and I don’t mean his back) compared to 2003?
Having seen most of Beltre’s at bats this season, yeah, you could easily call it a lack of pitch recognition. But there’s almost an element of timing. He’s not turning on pitches the way he did two seasons ago. If that’s all in the eyes, the Good Lady Beltre oughta put him on a steady diet of carrots.
One of the few things that actually seemed new in that Game of Shadows excerpt from a little while back was the stuff on Bonds’s eyesight. I.e. that his first try with steroids made his eyesight bad, but after an adjustment in formula, it got better.
So isn’t it a possibility that “correct” human growth hormone/steroid/whatever use in fact improves eyesight? HGH has been shown to heal decades-old scars, and then there’s the whole skull-growth thing–so I’m willing to believe that Bonds’s vaunted eye for the ball (and Beltre’s too?) is in part HGH-related.
Actually, I take it back. Not new to GoS. This was published in the SF Chronicle 12/2/04:
Human growth hormone
Performance-enhancing use: It builds muscle and strengthens connective tissue, especially when taken in combination with steroids or insulin. Some users report improved eyesight.
Side effects: Thyroid deficiency; acromegaly, a condition marked by growth of hands, feet and head; enlarged heart.
Fair enough. And it looks like he weighed around 170 in ’03. But let’s not forget the botched appendectomy thing, and the fact that he was still in his early 20’s. When I was 22, I packed on 30lbs easily. I wouldn’t think a professional athlete eats dorito’s like I do, but still.
And the reason I listed his ’05 weight is that most suspected users came in underweight last year. Beltre kept gaining weight.
I think he has Beltranitis of the Contract. And why doesn’t Paul DePodesta get credit for NOT breaking the bank for this guy?
Rog,
in one of the few portions of Miller’s piece I didn’t cut and paste, he made the Beltran comparison, too.
re : DePodesta. Agreed, his failure to keep Beltre (which might’ve been ownership’s call as much as anything) was frequently cited by his detractors in LA last spring. If the Dodgers are crippled by injuries in 2006 as they were in 2005, will Ned C. be held accountable the way DePodesta was?
in 2004 when Beltre had that great year, they had already begun drug testing… and Beltre was still able to belt 48. Last year was just nasty for him… and the beginning of this year is too, but looing at the WBC and seeing his capabilities from 2004, I got some faith that Beltre will be able to pull out of this slump (Ichiro and Sexson as well) and help out Johjima and Ibanez who seems to be carrying the team offensively.
It’s a long season, lets just wait and see.