Anyone want to retract that comical assertion that Beltre isn't an elite offensive 3B? Jeez - he's gotta be sad about the ASB coming along right in the middle of his hot streak.

I was slightly to see a post titled "adrian beltre" that didnt begin with "is god"..... shame :)

If by Elite, you mean not good enough to crack the top 5 3B in wRC+ this year (Youkilis, ARod, ARamirez, Chase Headly, and Mark Reynolds are currently all ahead), than sure. Tough to be considered elite with a .314 OBP in a hitter friendly ballpark.

Yeah - because we all know OBP is the only offensive statistic worth considering. Lolz. Some people just have SUCH a hard time admitting they were wrong.

Also, since when does a guy have to be in the top 5 out of 30 teams to be considered "elite"? If he's #6 out of 30, isn't that pretty damned good?

Give it up dude. You are wrong.

Obviously you consider a lot more folks to be elite than I do. By your definition, baseball has at least 20% of their players being elite.

Beltre, like a lot of Rangers hitters, is a great hitter as long as he is in the RBiA bandbox. On the road? Not so much.

Beltre has not had a great first half. Last year he certainly was elite and he may be in the top three or four 3rd basemen in baseball offensively by the time the year is over.

Regardless, his superior defense already puts him in the top 3 or 4 as an all around player. Further, I think that stands regardless of the numbers. A snapshot doesn't dictate value. We all know how much of an impact he is defensively as well as offensively.

Ok, well if "great" is the same as "elite," then he's elite, since you admitted he's great - because he does play half his games in a "bandbox." Right? That's part of the deal, and it's lame of you to try to act like that should count against him.

Look, if the discussion is just about his offense, then sure, he isn't elite. But if we factor in defense, and the fact that he rarely takes days off/gets injured he's tied for 2nd most valuable 3rd baseman this season with Kevin Youkilis.

Plus, look at that BABIP. .256, compared to .338 for Arod, .323 for Youk, .310 for Ramirez...

Adrian Beltre is fantastic.

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=3b&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2011&month=0&season1=2011&ind=0

He was voted by the pl
ayers to replace aroid. That tells me alot.

Yeah, Adrian Beltre sucks so much that he's 2nd in the AL in RBIs and 4th in mlb with 71.
I guess driving in runs just isn't that important to be considered an elite offensive player.

Also, tied for 7th in the AL in home runs with 19 just isn't good enough.

Can this guy suck anymore?

djc,

Of the players you mentioned only C Headley doesn't play in an offensive bandbox.

And I know that this was an offensive discussion to begin with - but can you really throw Mark Reynolds' name out there in a discussion of "elite" 3B's?

I mean, we just watched that guy in the Orioles series last week - dude has two left feet, a hole in his glove and he might be the only player in MLB with a similar “range” to poor old Mikey baseball. His debauchery at 3B defensively is laughable, at best.

There are some players that just fit their clubs and statistics aren't really all that important. Beltre, whether he hits .250 or .260 or .270, it's a "hard" .250, .260 or .270. He's productive, he's clutch. He plays a solid to spectacular 3rd. If you were going to make the decision to pay an Ivy League price on a free agent, it's nice to get an Ivy League performance.

Mark Reynolds? I always thought he was the right handed version of Chris Davis.

Reynolds has a .7 WAR and wOBA of .366. Betre has a WAR of 3.2 and wOBA of .350. Betre is in the top 3 or 5. Reynolds is in the bottom third wouldn't you say?

@RichP, couldnt have said it better myself.

Beltre bats Fourth... he cleans up. HR & RBI are his producing factors. His OBP is not
important where he bats. He's right where he should be and is knocking the cover
off the ball. I think he'll be close to .300BA, before seasons end and raising his OBP.
Could we see 40 HR & 120 RBI in 2011 from Beltre? That projects to Elite- any Position.