Mets Shopping Carlos Beltran

John Harper of the Daily News wrote a breakthrough column that the Mets might be shopping Carlos Beltran at the winter meetings.  Okay, maybe it's not a breakthrough at all.  Afterall, Beltran is in the final year of his contract that will pay him $18.5 milion, and he is not even the best player at his position on his own team.  That honor goes to Angel Pagan, who is not only entering his prime, but has also earned the right to be the Mets starting centerfielder on Opening Day based on his play last season.

If the Mets plan on changing the team culture, it might be helpful to start with building an organization based on meritocracy.  Mets fans have had to endure watching Kaz Matsui play shortstop over Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran play centerfield over Mike Cameron despite both being weaker defensive players.  They also had to watch Ollie Perez maintain his spot in the rotation last year for too long not because of his play but because of his large contract.  Baseball fans might either love or hate the Yankees, but one thing you have to respect is that once a player stops performing, he is banished from the team regardless of the size of his contract.  Take Kei Igawa - the Yankees gave him $20 million, yes that's right $20 million.  But, the minute that the Yankee brass realized that he was a bust, you never heard of him again, unless of course you are a season ticketholder of the Scranton Yankees.  For the Mets to be taken seriously by the fans and more importantly, by their own players, they need to put on the field the best eight position players regardless of their contract or prior status in the game.

While Carlos Beltran has been a great Met when healthy and has represented the Mets with the utmost class, he needs to come to the reluctant realization that he is entering the backend of his career and sliding to one of the corner outfield spots would be the best thing for the team.