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The Red Sox are making an "aggressive push" for outfielder Carlos Beltran according to George King of the New York Post.
According to a person who knows Carlos Beltran, the switch-hitting right fielder has drawn strong interest from the Yankees' blood rivals.
The person said the Yankees and Orioles are in on Beltran, too, but the Red Sox have been more aggressive.
At 36-years-old, Beltran is no spring chicken. He's also going to cost any team that signs him a draft pick, assuming he turns down the qualifying offer from the Cardinals as he's expected to. Given that said offer comes in at a hair over $14 million, you can also expect him to take a big chunk out of the old payroll.
Red Sox free agent targets: Carlos Beltran
The Red Sox just beat the Cardinals in the World Series. Now they should sign one of their best-hitting veterans. What could go wrong?
That being said, he's a legitimate impact player who can be had on a short-term deal. Even hitting in the offense-suppressing Busch Stadium, Beltran managed a line of .296/.339/.491. He lends a great deal of flexibility to the lineup as a switch-hitter, and if he's no longer the star he used to be in the outfield, the Green Monster would do a fair job of masking whatever steps he's lost, and he can probably cover right field better than Daniel Nava and Jonny Gomes.
Those names, though, bring us to the question of "why?" The Red Sox had the third-highest left field production in the whole league by wOBA at .356. Beltran has them well beat by wRC+, but it's still not a clear area of need for the team.
Still, this team just doesn't have that many areas of need to begin with. So maybe going after a huge luxury buy on short years wouldn't be so bad. Or maybe George King's source is just exaggerating things:
Confirmed NY Post report: Red Sox have expressed interest in Carlos Beltran but not that aggressive to this point according to team source.
— Nick Cafardo (@nickcafardo) November 8, 2013