Carlos Beltran once left New York on a bad note, but now he is back and is all smiles. The outfielder admits he waited a long time to finally put on the New York Yankees uniform and now he is hoping this New York stint will work out better than his first when the Mets opted to trade him away in his final years with the team. Now he has some choice words to his former employers.
Beltran was once criticized by owner Fred Wilpon who said signing the outfielder to a $119 million contract was a mistake. He mocked the outfielder for missing a throw that ended the 2006 season with no World Series. Beltran was well-aware of these comments and the criticism from ownership regarding his ability to stay healthy. Now with the Yankees, Beltran is simply saying it is a shame how things ended with the Mets, but he is not blaming himself.
"Well, you've got to blame somebody," Beltran said, via the New York Daily News. "You've got to blame the guy that makes the most money. That's baseball."
Beltran certainly played some of his best baseball with the Mets. The outfielder batted .280 and hit 149 home runs with the team. However, his stint was still considered a failure because the team did not win.
"I feel like in my career, my best numbers were with the Mets," said Beltran. "You look at those numbers, the years that I was healthy, they were good numbers. It's just that when you don't win, everything is a failure."
Now, Beltran is looking for a little revenge on the Mets after he claims the team personally hurt him. The Yankees certainly have the roster to do so. After signing Jacoby Ellsbury and Brian McCann, the team has an upgraded roster and batting average. Beltran is expected to be a large part of that, so the Yankees are hoping the added motivation leads to increased batting numbers.
"I can deal with 0-for-4s and three strikeouts and talking to you guys. I can deal with that," Beltran said. "When somebody is trying to hurt you in a personal way, trying to put things out there that are not me, we have trouble. You cannot believe the organization that signed you for seven years is trying to put you down. In that aspect, I felt hurt. I'm a player but they don't only hurt me, they hurt my family, they hurt people around me. It wasn't right, put it that way."
