The market for free agent third baseman Adrian Betlre is taking focus, and things aren’t looking good for the Red Sox.
While about half of the league has expressed interest in Beltre, the Oakland Athletics have emerged as the early front runners for his services. While the five year, $45 million offer initially reported presumably wouldn’t come close to being enough, when that number was bumped up to $64 million—matching the contract he signed with Seattle back in 2004—it became a lot more realistic.
For the Red Sox, this may mean they’re already out of the race. Nick Cafardo has said that they’ve already set a limit on Beltre below that, at four years and $52 million.
None of this may be good enough for Scott Boras, though, who has set Torii Hunter’s contract (five years, $90 million) as a benchmark for Beltre. There aren’t many teams out there that could offer him such a deal, though, and with Beltre on the wrong side of 30-years-old and having a penchant for inconsistency, it’s hard to imagine anyone meeting Boras’ demands.
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