Adrian Beltre declines 2010 option with the Boston Red Sox
Adrian Beltre has declined his $10 million player option to play the 2011 season with the Boston Red Sox. Free agents are allowed to begin negotiations this Sunday, only five days after the end of the
World Series. Up until this season free agents had to wait 15 days to begin negotiations.
The third baseman is expecting good things to come from this free agency period.
“I think there'll be more aggressive behavior,” said Beltre’s agent, Scott Boras, who also represents free agent Jayson Werth according to the Associated Press. “I would say as many as eight to 10 teams
are unhappy with what happened to their teams for a variety of reasons. And I believe there are a number of fan bases that expect a great deal more out of their franchises than has been given to date.”
Beltre signed a $9 million one-year deal with a player option for an additional year last off-season. By having 640 plate appearances, Beltre’s option doubled from $5 million to $10 million, but after
hitting .321 with 28 home runs and 102 RBIs, the slugger things he can do even better than that.
“It shows I wasn’t hurt,” Beltre commented on the 640 plate appearance clause. “Hurt is one thing, but to have soreness and nagging things are another. For me being hurt is having surgery. I’ve been lucky
enough that the injuries I’ve had haven’t stopped me from swinging the bat or anything like that.”
The Red Sox can still re-sign Beltre before he hits the open market, they have until Saturday to do that, but it’s unlikely they’ll be able to offer him enough money to not listen to other team’s offers.
The 31-year-old has a career 278 home runs, 1,008 RBIs, and he’s batted .275 over 13 seasons in MLB. In 2010 he led the Majors in doubles with 49, and he was fourth in the American League for batting average.
He was also named to his first all-star team in 2010.
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