My thoughts on resigning Beltran. 1. MMP is indeed a juice park... except at CF. A great defensive CF is definitely worth extra in our park. Take out that stupid hill and flag, and Beltran can probably save this team about 10 triples a season. 2. This is indeed a veteran team. But we should have no problems retooling on the fly, should McLane not be too frugal with the checkbooks. Bagwell and Biggio are no longer great players. Replacing their production shouldn't be too hard, probably Lane and $3-4 mil FA pickup would work. Kent, despite last night's heroics, has only been average in the past two seasons. Burke will be a dropoff, but not as much as one may think. He's better defensively, and is pretty good with the stick at the top of the order. And with Miller and Pettite healthy, our rotation is set for the next few years even if the Rocket retire(Oswalt, Miller, Pettite, Backe). So Beltran should continue to win here. 3. If Beltran's as low-keyed as everyone say he is, Houston is an awesome place to play. We give him an opportunity to win every year, and he doesn't have to deal with the NY/Chicago media.
