Kevin's Royals Blog

On this blog, I’ve made a concerted effort to avoid talking about players and events of Royals past, and instead focusing on the present and future. For one thing, the Royals’ recent past has been nothing short of brutal, and for another, I also just don’t enjoy writing about stuff that happened 10 or 15 seasons ago. It isn’t that I’m not interested in The Last Good Royals Teams, but I don’t see the relevance they hold today. That, and well-written historical articles usually require tons of research.

Today, however, I’m going to break away from my self mandate, and give a little bit of credit to a guy who really doesn’t get enough from Royals fans to this day. Yeah, I know that Carlos Beltran’s been gone for far less than a calendar year and that he was given plenty of love by his fans, but I can’t help but think he’s still underrated in traits that have nothing to do with his awesome skill level.

1999

All of us who’ve followed the Royals closely since 1999 remember who Carlos was as a rookie. It was impossible not to notice his talent, because he showed off no matter where he was on the field. He’d line a ball into the alleyway then sprint effortlessly around the bases. If he only hit a single, he’d steal second (and perhaps third), also effortlessly. He’d make highlight-reel catches in the outfield, showing off his range, or display amazing instincts on a routine fly ball. About the only thing he didn’t do was pitch, but one could argue that Carlos Beltran, Relief Pitcher would’ve done a better job of getting people out than Matt Whisenant and Scott Service combined.

However, as obvious and solid as his talent level was, it was also painfully clear that, at times, Beltran didn’t have the slightest clue what he was doing on the field. He’d display maddening concentration lapses in the field, on the bases, and at the plate, where he only drew 46 walks against 123 strikeouts in 663 at-bats. Don’t get me wrong; he still did as fine a job as a 22-year-old could be expected to do, and he was duly dubbed the American League’s top rookie. But those lapses in concentration served as a talking point for fans. There was an underlying belief that if he could just mature a little bit and figure things out, that he’d become an all-around monster of a baseball player during his prime.

2000

The wanted improvement in concentration didn’t happen right away. Expectations were VERY high for Carlos in 2000, and although the team overachieved with a more-than-respectable 77-85 record that matched their Pythagorean W-L, everything went wrong for him both on and off the field. Beltran injured his knee very near the start of the season, which would’ve been bad enough if it didn’t trigger a chain reaction of off-the-field animosity between the Royals and Beltran’s agent, Scott Boras. Because Beltran refused to report to the team’s training camp to rehabilitate his knee, the Royals suspended him without pay for 30 days or until he reported to rehab. During that time, each Royals player had a clause in his contract stating that the team reserved the right to determine when and where the player will be treated for an injury.

Boras, in a clear first effort to get Beltran out of Kansas City, used a provision in the Collective Bargaining Agreement that could’ve made his client a free agent and filed a grievance with the Players’ Association. The provision indicated that players can’t be sent to the minor leagues for rehab without their consent. In an Associated Press story, Boras commented on the situation:

"The team is saying when you are injured in the line of duty for the Kansas City Royals, you can no longer be with your major league teammates but go to some outside colony."
"The best trainers the Royals have are in the big leagues. The old Royals didn't do this. The (manager) Tony Muser Royals have set up a policy that if you are injured, you are prevented from being with your teammates and you're prevented from being with the major league team."

The case eventually went before arbiter Shyam Das, who either ruled in the Royals’ favor or, if he ruled in Beltran’s favor, the Royals surrendered the money he lost to the suspension to avoid losing him to free agency. (The news trail seems to stop with stories about the case going before Das on a certain date.) Either way, the situation was a total mess, and it combined with the injury obviously affected Beltran’s play on the field. Playing in only 98 games, he hit a paltry .247/.309/.366, which is downright horrendous on the surface. However, we know that in baseball, players can make subtle improvements that are extremely important to his long-term success as a hitter, and yet are invisible to the untrained eye. For Beltran, that improvement was a drastic step forward in his plate discipline. During his rookie-of-the-year season, he drew one walk every 14.41 at-bats on average. In 2000, he drew one every 10.62 at-bats (35 walks in 372 at-bats). It was an ugly year, but Carlos Beltran’s maturity level and knowledge of the strike zone began to grow here.

2001

Kansas City was buzzing with excitement for the 2001 season. More than 10,000 season tickets were sold, and fans were unduly pumped up because of the addition of Roberto Hernandez (a Proven Veteran Closer after the Great Bullpen Debacle of 2000). However, acquiring Hernandez cost the Royals a season from Johnny Damon, who, in hindsight, they should’ve held onto. Because of a lack of quality pitching and major regressions from Joe Randa, Carlos Febles, and Jermaine Dye, the Royals’ only bright spots came from Raul Ibanez and Beltran, who followed up his nightmarish 2000 with a solid 2001.

It didn’t start off well for him, however. Through 335 at-bats leading into the all-star break, Beltran was looking more like another Kansas City bust than like the star he’d eventually become. He hit only .263/.310/.427, taking a big step back from his improved plate discipline the prior season. Shockingly, Beltran turned the corner in the second half, blistering American League pitching with a 1.041 OPS. The reason? Beltran credits a then-teammate. Rany Jazayerli wrote the following in this December 2001 column for Baseball Prospectus:

The most important reason to bring back [Luis] Alicea [for 2002] has nothing to do with his ability. Alicea's real position isn't second base; it's player-coach. His mentoring relationship with Carlos Beltran has been cited as the key reason for Beltran's second-half explosion. Beltran himself credits a drill that Alicea taught him, in which he practices swinging the bat with just one hand, as helping him learn to keep his hands back and wait on the ball. (Gee, that's funny. I thought Johnny Damon was the guru of the one-handed
swing.)

Look, I have no idea if Alicea really keyed Beltran's breakout or not. All I know is that the center fielder's walk rate did jump, from 6.9 per 100 at-bats before the All-Star break to 10.3 per 100 ABs afterwards, that his
OPS soared from 737 to 1041, and that he gives the credit to Alicea. Beltran is the single most important player in the organization; if he says that Alicea was a positive influence on him, and the evidence backs him up, then I'd happily pay Alicea $800,000 to chair the Royals' Big Brother/Big Sister program and spit sunflower seeds all season.

As much credit as Alicea should receive for having a solid career as a utility man, it’s pretty ironic that a hitter of his “caliber” could make THAT big of a difference in a player’s season. After all, Beltran ended up leading the team with a VORP of 63.4 after playing terrible baseball for three months. It’s even more ironic that it could make that big of a difference in a player’s career.

2002

The Royals lost 100 games for the first time in their franchise’s history in 2002, but that didn’t deter Beltran from having another fine season. Proving that he’ll forever be a hitter who gets better as the weather heats up, he only had an OPS of .786 heading into the break. Perhaps most encouraging was that although his batting average dropped 33 points from 2001 to 2002, his on-base percentage only fell by roughly half that, or 16 points. His newfound plate discipline and overall knowledge of hitting took a major step forward; at the end of the year, he’d drawn 71 walks in 637 at-bats, a new career high.

2003

For Carlos Beltran and the Royals, 2003 was nothing more than fun. For Royals fans, it was fun because the team held first place for more days than any other team in the division, but also sad because it pretty much cemented Beltran’s departure from Kansas City during or after the 2004 season. It isn’t really a question of what he did, it was more like, “What didn’t he do?” Jack a game-winning homer? Check. Become the all-time leader in stolen base percentage? Check. Put together a solid first half (.861 OPS) and second half (.968 OPS)? Check. Hit .429 against the hated Yankees? Double-check, but only because they’re the Yankees. But the most amazing thing he did in 2003 was a testament to a freakish ability of his. Before the season started, Beltran called his shot, as Joe Posnanski of The Kansas City Star wrote on September 24, 2003:

A year ago, Beltran struck out 135 times. He decided that was too many (“I was hurting the team,” he says). Of course, lots of guys decide they strike out too much, but there's not a whole lot they can do about it. You are what you are. Fourteen guys in the AL struck out 120 or more times last year. Every one of them who has played the full season has struck out at least 100 times again this season. Well, all except one.

Beltran has cut out an utterly astounding 55 strikeouts from his total a year ago.

Only the great ones can do that, say they’re going to do something and then do it. Babe Ruth guaranteed and hit a home run. Joe Namath guaranteed and got a big victory. Carlos Beltran decided to whiff less while walking more and hitting for more power. That shouldn’t happen, as Mike Piazza said in a recent article on the Mets’ official website:

"I'm jealous of him. No one should be that good. He just flows. The talent comes out of his fingertips. I hate him.”

2004

Mendy Lopez hit the first bomb off lights-out reliever Damaso Marte of the White Sox. Beltran, a much more likely candidate to hit a dramatic home run, hit the second, and sent Kansas City into a state of hysteria. Aside from an earlier Benito Santiago homer, the first eight innings of Opening Day 2004 couldn’t have gone much worse. The ninth inning, however, belonged to the Royals, and had this Royals fan believing that 2004 was finally going to be my year in the sun. After all, backup infielders just don’t hit pinch-hit, game-tying homers to the deepest part of the ballpark off ace lefty relievers. Teams don’t have six-run comebacks with their backs against the wall.

Unfortunately, the Royals only had 57 more days like Opening Day (read: winning), and that led to Beltran’s trade to the Houston Astros in late June. Sure, it was something the Royals had to do because of Carlos’ impending free agency and the guarantee that he was going to bolt, but the move was still bittersweet for me. Sweet because of the decent return the Royals got and because of his moving to a better situation in Houston, but bitter because I was sad to see such a great player with great character leave Kansas City, never to return.

However, Beltran quickly turned my sadness into pride as I watched him lead the Astros into the playoffs with a barrage of hits, walks, home runs, and stolen bases (he wasn’t caught once while playing for Houston). That plate discipline and knowledge of hitting took another step, as he drew 92 walks against 101 strikeouts.

Then the playoffs came, and before ripping the Cardinals to shreds in the NLCS (.417/.562/.958), he dismantled the Braves in the Division Series by hitting .455/.500/1.091. He popped four homers in each series and, oh yeah, also stole six bases (without being caught, of course). Watching Beltran in the playoffs was like watching a video game. All he seemingly had to do was press an “X” button at the right time, and the incoming pitch was sent into orbit. Beltran had an epic 1.558 OPS in the 2004 postseason, which almost certainly earned him extra dollars on the free agent market.

2005 and Beyond

When Beltran signed with the New York Mets in January, opinions were flying around that he was only after the money and that he wasn’t interested in winning among other things. Here’s a portion of what I wrote in response to those critics on January 10:

When the Mets announce Carlos as their latest big-money acquisition, fans aren’t going to want to hear him say, "I came here because I want to win" when the informed know that Houston probably has a better chance of winning than the Mets do. Would it help ease the pain if Beltran admitted he chose New York because they offered more? Perhaps a little, but never entirely. I think what would help more would be all of us being more realistic, getting off our soapboxes, and putting the morality card down. Carlos served his six years of not being able to choose his destination, and according to the rules, he’s allowed to market his services however he pleases. Whether his decision was based on greed shouldn’t concern us in the least. He’s playing by the rules just like everybody else, and doesn’t deserve to be bashed for maximizing his value.

The bottom line is that I believed Carlos had earned the right to go for the jack if he wanted to. We aren’t talking about Manny Ramirez here; Beltran is a first-class individual who worked hard, and people who work hard deserve big-time rewards. Additionally, I didn’t think the money would go to his head, and it didn’t.

With the start of spring training, baseball articles are starting to pop up with quite a bit of regularity now, and no article has left me with a greater sense of pride than this one by Kevin Czerwinski. Carlos Beltran has gone from being a student of the game to a teacher in a little over six full seasons. So many athletes talk about wanting to give back to the game after they retire. Beltran’s ahead of the game, as he’s taken the responsibility upon himself to teach the younger Mets players about basestealing:

"This [intrasquad game] is important," Beltran said. "Everything starts from here. We, as guys who can steal bases, have to take pride in what we do. We can't afford to get thrown out. We can do these kinds of things and be prepared. I know this is practice, but everything starts from here, that's why I decided to talk to [Jose Reyes].”

Ultimately, that’s everything he’s about, or has become about. Taking pride in what he does. Being prepared. Practicing. Starting in spring training and being ready from the get-go. Those are character traits Cal Ripken, Jr., George Brett, Tony Gwynn, and Ted Williams had. You know, the great ones. The names fans remember for decades after the player retires.

Royals fans are going to remember the great things Carlos Beltran did while in Kansas City, and they’ll always know he started here in the Kansas City organization. However, remembering Beltran as a rookie and seeing him now is like looking at two completely different people. Prepared? Thy name is Carlos.

He figured it out.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 01, 2005 at 3/01/2005 01:28:00 AM. |