Adrian Beltre?

[rexturner34]

I have been told that Beltre will not be the fantasy beast he was last year. He has a new home field, new teammates and is in the AL now.
What do you guys think? Thanks

[Twinskies]

It would be wishful thinking to expect the kind of numbers he put up last year, but i still believe he is a stud regardless. Seattle is not a great hitters park, but neither was LA...plus many believe that he is in a better lineup this year. With Suzuki, Boone, Winn, and Sexson hitting around him, i would look for Beltre to have another productive year. .325-38-115 is my guess.

[echrisl]

I think he'll fall off a bit, especially during the first month of the season. I expect him to lose about 10 HR's this year from last, but I think the overall numbers will still be very good by the end of the season.

[George_Foreman]

i see no reason he won't put up similar numbers to last year, especially hitting behind ichiro.

[Cornbread Maxwell]

i see no reason he won't put up similar numbers to last year, especially hitting behind ichiro.

nor do I. You also have the age factor coming in to consideration - he's only 26 and hasent hit his peak age yet.

[jonnyblack]

Beltre may be on of the biggest enigmas coming into this season. IMO, the change of parks does not factor into the equasion because he is coming from LA. Will he hit 48 homers again (he hit 23 at home and 25 away last year), probably not. It is easy though, to speculate that he will break 40 again. With Ichiro always on base in front of him, he should get plenty of RBI opportunities.

Beltre has had one great year, so far. His age is right for another couple, but this year will be telling and we will see whether he is a true ball player or a one year wonder. I think that he is a scoach overvalued this pre-season, but I also believe he will be an extremely productive fantasy third baseman.

[Secret Avatar]

I expect something like 320-42-120-110-5 from Beltre in 2005.

[Cornbread Maxwell]

I also want to mention that he has been discussed quite a lot here, and a search for his name should bring up multiple threads.

The most common mistake I see regarding Beltre is people taking his past stats into consideration without the proper context. Beltre was fighting life threatening illneses over the last few years - that had a much much larger impact than the "contract yr theory"

Seriously though - look at this article written by a reputable fantasy source. Its an article trying to argue both for and against Beltre repeating - but clearly the author is clueless about Beltre's past injury history - he doesnt mention it even once - doesnt even allude to it. The guy lost someothing like 30 pounds as a 23yo because of a botched stomach surgery and the author doesnt even mention it.

http://baseball.sportsline.com/news/8225337

Hopefully the link works, but again, its only to show the fact that most people - even so called "experts" dont understand why Beltre "broke out" and still repeat the contract yr theory which may have contributed for a part of it, but not nearly as much as being relatively healthy for the first time in 2 years.

[jonnyblack]

I did consider his botched apendectomy happening at a time when his bud should have been blossoming. If he puts up similar numbers to last year, he is up there with pujols.

[afromangettindrunk]

I certainly did not hesitate to nab him when my 3rd round pick came around and he was still on the board.