Last season, around July everyone was screaming about the Yankees' decision to put Carlos Beltran on the block, basically saying 'HE NEEDS TO WIN A WORLD SERIES, HE NEEDS TO SEE OCTOBER', bla bla bla. That was the most intense argument of the 2016 trade deadline, which proves, if anything, how week that deadline was.
Anyway, Beltran got traded, and he didn't get to a World Series. But...he signed with the team that, ironically, last acquired him with the sole purpose of getting to a World Series...and he got to a World Series, and won. So for a guy whose ring-search felt so urgent in 2016, the fact that he got one without a whimper in 2017 was kind of impressive. Which goes back to the sort of unheralded, impressive quality that Beltran seems to have.
Today, Carlos Beltran announced, with the ring on his finger I'm guessing, that the quest was over, and he'd be hanging up his spikes indefinitely, which definitely makes sense. The guy's 40 years old, he had a down season as a DH in Houston, and they literally had a funeral for his fielding glove this year. His best days were behind him and everyone knew it.
Plus, Beltran has had a whirlwind career, with a Rookie of the Year award, some monster seasons with the Mets, Cardinals and Yankees, and some impressive consistency in the heart of his career. In 6 years, when the Cooperstown cases show up, people will be citing his injuries as a way of stopping him from getting in, but I honestly think he has a really nice Hall of Fame case, and I think he's had a very full career, with the perfect ending.
Gonna miss him 'round the leagues, but if there was any correct point for Carlos Beltran to make his exit, now might be the perfect one.
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