The Red Sox and Phillies would like to trade for Adrian Beltre to help their push toward the postseason. The Rangers have made Beltre available to trade before the July 31 deadline, since Texas is 17 games out of first place in the American League West despite going 8-2 in their last 10 games.
Adrian Beltre is available in trade, unless he isn’t
Tuesday’s Say Hey, Baseball tries to sort out the Beltre rumors.
Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images
Well, that’s true depending on which report you read, anyway. Evan Grant reported as much two days ago, saying that Beltre, as well as a pair of relievers, were being offered up before trade deadline season truly kicks off, given the Rangers’ place in the standings. However, there’s a conflicting report from Jeff Wilson, also from two days ago, suggesting the Rangers haven’t committed to the idea of dealing Beltre yet: they might be testing the waters, but nothing is fully mapped out in that regard.
Here’s the thing: Beltre is a pending free agent, and he’s still productive, and those things make him a tantalizing piece to dangle in front of contenders over the next month-plus. However, the Rangers would also like Beltre to still be around in 2019, and don’t necessarily want to cut off their relationship with him with a trade if it is going to hamper their ability to bring him back. So, Texas will likely trade Beltre, but they’ll need to get enough of a return back to justify that move.
This could also just all be the Rangers’ attempt at gaining some leverage in trade talks, too: the market has moved more and more towards prioritizing service time over everything else, and with Beltre under contract for just a few months, he’s a rental who will likely bring back a little something instead of what he might have in this same situation had it occurred four or five years ago. With that in mind, leaking to the world that Beltre isn’t a guarantee to be dealt because you might want to keep him for yourself should help out, if only a little bit.
Like with Yu Darvish last summer, Beltre is going to end up being traded. He might not come back to Texas whether he’s traded or not, considering he’ll be 40 years old in 2019, the Rangers are in a pseudo-rebuild waiting for all their young players to produce, and Beltre is still, as of now, without a World Series appearance despite 21 years in the game. Yes, the Rangers will trade Beltre, and it shouldn’t be too much of a process even with his 10-and-5 rights in the mix. They just need everyone to think it won’t be so easy.
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