By Keith Allison on Flickr
Okay, maybe not nearly as good. But good. When Carlos Beltran was first suggested as a possible free agency target for the St. Louis Cardinals in their quest to replace the best first baseman of the last 50 years with a few pretty-good types, I couldn't think of anything else—first Beltran's incredible performance in the Cardinals' 2004 win over the Astros, then his second bow as Cardinals NLCS arch-nemesis in 2006, when Adam Wainwright's curveball froze him in Game 7 and sent an 83-win team to the World Series.
Then, once I remembered that the Cardinals had 39 home runs and 99 RBI to replace in the middle of their order, I abruptly became able to think about other things. Like his 2011 season—after two half-seasons in 2009 and 2010, Beltran had an outstanding comeback year, hitting .300 with 71 walks, 67 extra-base hits, and a career-high OPS relative to league average. You'll forgive me, I hope, for thinking about those things and Wainwright's curveball.
Carlos Beltran is a risky pick-up, even though he would only see that curveball in batting practice; knee problems nearly derailed his career in New York, and his enormous comeback season came on a reduced defensive load—he played mostly right field, whereas he'd probably be asked to play some center in St. Louis. Rumor has it one team has offered at least three years; that doesn't sound so bad, maybe, after all the Pujols negotiations, but it would pay him through his age-37 season. (Okay, okay, maybe that doesn't sound so bad after all the Pujols negotiations, either.)
But with two other injury-prone types—Allen Craig and Lance Berkman—manning the Pujols-affected positions, the Cardinals can't really have too much depth on offense. There will be plenty of plate appearances to go around, even if none of them will be quite so transcendent as that Game 7 strikeout in 2006.
