Beltran is a good player, and has great skills, but he has never been a DOMINATE player, except in this years playoffs. I am ok with the fact that he did not sign here, that is too much of your payroll to tie up in a career .270 hitter. DD
drayton has to use someone like vlad or pujols to base his contract on because you can't just go in throwing money around like hicks did with arod. that's just stupid. anyways, since you clarified yourself, i do agree with your point that in dealing with boras and carlos who never made it clear he wanted to return, the astros made a huge mistake in not having somekind of backup plan in place. they got played bad and it's time to see if something else is in the works.
Beltran wasn't going to sign here anyways. Boras was trying to get the Yanks involved in a bidding war with the Mets, hell he was offering the Yanks 20 million LESS than the Mets and they said no. Beltran wanted to be in NYC from day one. Him and Boras just used the Astros to drive up the price. Both are to blame. Mclane NEVER had a chance. He should have went after plan "b" after Beltran declined arbitration.
Generally a limited no trade clause allows a player to only be traded to certain teams that the player can name. I read somewhere where the Astros offered Beltran the opportunity to name 5 teams that he would accept a trade to in lieu of a complete no trade clause. This list would not have to be made until a trade is possible (in other words, Beltran would not have to name the 5 teams prior to the contract being signed.)
To sum this thread up....Drayton and the Astros got played. The fix was in from the start and we didn't have a chance. Boras and Beltran put on a good show to make it seem like may want to be here but they knew and many of us knew all along that he wanted Betran in NYC. Charlie Palillo summed it up best in today's afternoon show where he said that Boras probably put one rediculous demand after another to tie up the negotiations until we ran out of time. The Astros will most likely end up near the cellar this year but they will be much better off 2-3 years down the road once the original Killer B's retire.
