Congrats to Beltre!

[Cloud]

On his 3000th hit! He was one of my all time favorite Mariners and it's great to see such achievement.
If anyone here came from the ESPN forums days should remember there was always a debate going whether or not Beltre's contract at the time was worth it for the M's. Always contended it was because of his elite defense at 3B and his offense was very decent. 3000 career hits proves it.

 

[PolarVortex]

Could tell several years ago that Beltre was on a pace that get him to 3000 hits as long as he stayed healthy and had a fulltime job. He is still fairly young, as players with 3000 hits go. Ichiro was 43 when he got his 3000th hit. Beltre is 'only' 38. He could, conceivably, play 3-4 more yeas and possibly rack up another 400-500 hits. He may even reach 500 career homeruns, who knows?

Another guy with a decent shot at 3000 hits, someone to keep an eye on, is Nick Markakis. For Nick, who always seems to be healthy, the biggest challenge will be maintaining a starting gig that long. He's pretty unspectacular as far as stats go, but also very consistent and neither commands nor demands a big contract. He is just 32 years old and should reach 2000 career hits this week. An average of 160 hits a year over the next six years would get him there. He's 160+ hits in 9 of the last 10 seasons.

Robbie Cano is 700 hits away. He also turns 35 shortly after the season ends. If he completes his full 10 year contract with the Mariners, he'll probably get there. But, I expect injuries, mainly hammies, will start slowing down his pursuit of 3000.

I don't see anyone else for several years. Elvis Andrus is only 28 and already has 1383 hits. But it is his glove that keeps him in the lineup, not his bat. He'll lose his starting gig when his legs go.

 

[seahawksfan234]

Could tell several years ago that Beltre was on a pace that get him to 3000 hits as long as he stayed healthy and had a fulltime job. He is still fairly young, as players with 3000 hits go. Ichiro was 43 when he got his 3000th hit. Beltre is 'only' 38. He could, conceivably, play 3-4 more yeas and possibly rack up another 400-500 hits. He may even reach 500 career homeruns, who knows?

Another guy with a decent shot at 3000 hits, someone to keep an eye on, is Nick Markakis. For Nick, who always seems to be healthy, the biggest challenge will be maintaining a starting gig that long. He's pretty unspectacular as far as stats go, but also very consistent and neither commands nor demands a big contract. He is just 32 years old and should reach 2000 career hits this week. An average of 160 hits a year over the next six years would get him there. He's 160+ hits in 9 of the last 10 seasons.

Robbie Cano is 700 hits away. He also turns 35 shortly after the season ends. If he completes his full 10 year contract with the Mariners, he'll probably get there. But, I expect injuries, mainly hammies, will start slowing down his pursuit of 3000.

I don't see anyone else for several years. Elvis Andrus is only 28 and already has 1383 hits. But it is his glove that keeps him in the lineup, not his bat. He'll lose his starting gig when his legs go.

Yeah, Beltre is looking like he could continue playing for another 3-4 years. He's still hitting really well this year despite his age and he hit 32 HRs last year with a .300/.358/.521 triple slash line.

He hit .266/.317/.442 with the Mariners.

Since leaving he has hit .310/.360/.522

Go figure.

 

[unlvmariners]

Always liked Beltre. Still do. Good player and he does funny stuff.

 

[Msfann]

I always kinda wish he had stayed here but it was impossible for him to live up to that contract. I'm happy for him though!

 

[PolarVortex]

Yeah, Beltre is looking like he could continue playing for another 3-4 years. He's still hitting really well this year despite his age and he hit 32 HRs last year with a .300/.358/.521 triple slash line.

He hit .266/.317/.442 with the Mariners.

Since leaving he has hit .310/.360/.522

Go figure.

Back in Beltre's time here, Safeco was much more of a pitcher's park than it is now. The fences had not yet been moved in and the marine layer was more prevalent.

 

[seahawksfan234]

Back in Beltre's time here, Safeco was much more of a pitcher's park than it is now. The fences had not yet been moved in and the marine layer was more prevalent.

I'm happy that this is the first time I've heard about the "marine layer" in a while.

The Mariners couldn't hit because they sucked.

 

[Cloud]

Yeah, Beltre is looking like he could continue playing for another 3-4 years. He's still hitting really well this year despite his age and he hit 32 HRs last year with a .300/.358/.521 triple slash line.

He hit .266/.317/.442 with the Mariners.

Since leaving he has hit .310/.360/.522

Go figure.

Interesting point because had he stayed with the M's I'm not sure he'd be anywhere close to 3000 hits, still maybe a year or two away

 

[Cloud]

I always kinda wish he had stayed here but it was impossible for him to live up to that contract. I'm happy for him though!

I agree with this assessment due to a couple of factors.

1) The numbers he put up with the Dodgers was an anomaly and it was also during his contract year.
2) The Safeco Field Effect. It was hard for the ball to have any carry here.

Overall, I felt his offense was somewhat slacking but he made up for it with his elite 3B defense. Very good player though and very consistent.

 

[seahawksfan234]

Interesting point because had he stayed with the M's I'm not sure he'd be anywhere close to 3000 hits, still maybe a year or two away

My assumption is that after that huge season he had prior to the Mariners signing him, something changed when he came to Seattle. Perhaps he juiced that year with the Dodgers, then stopped while with the Mariners then started again. Perhaps after leaving Seattle he started taking his workout regime/nutrition more seriously. Not sure.

As easy as it is to blame it on being in Seattle, I have to assume it's some factor we can't account for.

 

[seahawksfan234]

I was in favor of giving him a contract extension. I've never seen a better defensive third baseman in my life. Guy probably could've pitched with the arm he had. I don't think there have been many third basemen in baseball history with the cannon that Beltre had.

His hitting was ehh in Seattle, but his defense was incredible. We got lucky with Seager.

 

[wazzu31]

I loved Beltre when he was in Seattle, his problem IMO was his contract got to his pride. He'd go on awesome tears when he would hit the RCF gaps, but would fall back into trying to hit it out to left. He had so much potential to be an elite batting title type hitter but seem to want to hit bombs. But congrats to him, anyone who can get to 3,000 on juice or not is a special type player (except for Ripken, screw him)

 

[DHoey]

Anybody that ruptures his testicle and finishes a 14 inning game has my respect

 

[boogiewithstu2007]

I loved Beltre when he was in Seattle, his problem IMO was his contract got to his pride. He'd go on awesome tears when he would hit the RCF gaps, but would fall back into trying to hit it out to left. He had so much potential to be an elite batting title type hitter but seem to want to hit bombs. But congrats to him, anyone who can get to 3,000 on juice or not is a special type player (except for Ripken, screw him)

Agreed, he tried to be a pull way too much, low out outside and he was toast...

 

[DHoey]

Agreed, he tried to be a pull way too much, low out outside and he was toast...

That's why I thought his recent "down on one knee because he swung and missed at a slider a foot outside" bobblehead was hilarious!