Giants Land Beltran

The Carlos Beltran sweepstakes are over, and the Giants won the big prize.  Beltran left Cincinnati and is joining the Giants tonight in Philly (of all places, the Giants just happen to be in the city of their main NL competitor).  The Giants will give up prized pitching prospect Zack Wheeler, who is 7-5 with a 3.99 ERA and 98 K's in 88 innings pitched for the San Jose Giants of the Class A Advanced California League.  The Mets will also include $4 million that will go towards paying Beltran's contract.

This was a great move by the Giants, because their offense is downright anemic.  Coming into tonight's game with the Phillies (which the Giants won 2-1) their .241 team batting average was fourth worst in the National League.  They are 15th in the NL in runs scored and they have the third worst on-base percentage in the NL at .307 (entering tonight's game).  Beltran adds immediate pop to a lineup in desperate need of it.  When he joins the Giants, he will suddenly be the only player on the roster who has a double-digit home run total.  He has a better batting average than all but two regulars.  Last season, the Giants won with pitching, but at least they had Buster Posey in the middle of the lineup.  With the rotation the Giants have, it would have been a crime to fall short of last year's success because of the inability to put a few runs on the board.  Now with Beltran, the Giants have catapulted themselves ahead of the Braves in terms of NL contenders.  Sure, Wheeler is one heck of a prospect to give up for a rental player, but the Giants already have the pitching to win now (again, for that matter).  All they needed was some pop.  By adding Beltran, the Giants could now be on a collision course for a rematch with the Phillies to determine the best team in the National League.