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Carlos Beltran has signed a contract with the Houston Astros, thus returning to the team after 12 years away—the length of the average baseball player’s career.
Possible HOU lineup w/Beltran in the fold, 1 yr./$16m: Springer, Bregman, Altuve, Correa, Beltran, Reddick, Gattis, McCann, Gurriel.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) December 3, 2016
The 39-year old doesn’t appear to be puttering out any time in the near future. After being sent to the Rangers via the Yankees at this years trade deadline, the veteran finished the 2016 season sporting a slash line of .295/.337/.513 and 29 home runs. Hopefully Astros fans have put what they felt as a deep betrayal by Beltran behind them.
After a historic 2004 playoff run with Houston, Beltran took his talents to the Big Apple, signing with the Mets for seven years, $119M. He’d been booed in Houston ever since. Now they they have him back, it will be interesting to see if Beltran will be looked at as the prodigal son or still a deserter.
Here’s what else is going on in the American League West:
The Mariners sign lefty reliever Marc Rzepczynski to a 2 year, $11M contract.
Talks between Ian Desmond and the Texas Rangers have intensified, DUN DUN DUN.
Yonder Alonso and the Oakland Athletics have agreed to a one year, $4M contract.
Yonder Alonso is very happy to be back with the A's, he says via text: pic.twitter.com/3qctmTnjdW
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) December 2, 2016
The offseason moves are set to continue for the Astros, who now have their sights set on one of the hottest free agents, Edwin Encarnacion.
Some bad news for the Los Angeles Angels. Albert Pujols has undergone foot surgery for his third plantar fascia.
GM Billy Eppler said Albert Pujols’ foot “pain was getting progressively worse” since season’s end, after a shockwave therapy did not take.
— Pedro Moura (@pedromoura) December 3, 2016