How'd you like to bring in a 37-year-old aging slugger with a history of injury on a free-agent deal from the St. Louis Cardinals?
Sound familiar? Well, it should. The Rangers did that with Lance Berkman prior to last season, and we all know how that went. Well, the Rangers are a candidate to do it again this winter with Cardinals free agent Carlos Beltran.
Beltran doesn't have the extensive injury history Berkman did. His slow decline is probably just more of a factor of age. But he's still a good player, and he's been a monster in the postseason over his 17 seasons in baseball.
The New York Daily News reported on Wednesday that the Rangers are one of a few teams trying to schedule visits with Beltran, who will turn 37 just weeks after Opening Day. Beltran had a solid year with the Cardinals in 2013, helping them to the World Series, where they lost in six games to Boston.
For his career, which spans 10 postseason series, Beltran has 40 RBIs and a .333 batting average with 16 homers. As we learned with Berkman, there's certainly no guarantee Beltran will keep up his good play, but it could be worth a shot if they could sign him to a reasonable deal to come in and play left field and DH.
