nykgeneralmanager wrote:Beltre has a lot of potential, but he wasn't in the upper levels so he was expendable. I wouldn't say that Beltre has had 0 development, the kid has only had 121 ABs, and he has manged to put up 5 homers, 3 doubles, and 3 triples, and 6 steals in 33 games. He's got a ton of tools to work with. Sure he isn't hitting for average, but good luck finding me 16-17 year olds who have their swings cleaned up already. Either way, it is nothing that should make him a deal breaker for Gagne.
I agree with what you are saying, but I think you misunderstood my point. My point wasn't that Engel Beltre hasn't, wouldn't and won't develop but that he hasn't had enough at bats or time in the minors to develop all that much more than someone like a Michael Almanzar that the Sox just signed or whoever else they are going to sign as an international free agent.
They signed Beltre for roughly 600K so with how little he has developed (not his fault, he hasn't had the chance to yet), it isn't all that different than dealing 600K in the deal. They can and will (much like the Yanks) go out and just bid another $1M or so on another international free agent. With how far away and underdeveloped he is (because he is 17, not because he isn't a nice prospect), it isn't much of a loss at all for a team that can throw tons of money at the draft and at international free agents.