You can make the case that their nearly identical production makes Abreu overpaid, but he only made 13 mil last year to Beltre's 11.5.

Next year it will be 16 to 12, but Abreu has averaged a 122 OSP+ over the last 3 years.  Beltre has averaged 103.  I expect a rebound from Abreu despite his age (34).

Beltre will be 29-  he could maintain his OPS+ (his numbers have risen the last 3 years: 93, 105, 112).  But, I doubt he will improve it.  He's had 4 seasons below 100, 5 seasons above, and excepting his probably PED driven 163 in his contract year, he best seasons have been age 21 and age 28.

Beltre hits an abnormaly high percentage of ground balls for a guy who slugged as much as he did this year. The kind of power that Beltre exhibitted usually requires a higher percentage of fly balls or line-drives. In addition, Beltre's K/BB rate is still quite high, and that usually does not bode well for his future. At best he'll become Joe Carter if he gains more power; at worst he'll become Tony Batista.

Besides you cannot just cite numbers without putting them into context. The guy put up an .800+ OPS in a ballpark that is BRUTAL on right handers. Would have still been average if his OPS were .880 in a neutral ballpark?

Probably not, but you're assuming that his OPS would have been .880 in a neutral park. As it turns out, his OPS in away games was only .850. But I'm willing to bet that he would have kept his giant platoon split regardless of where he played.

As for his defense, go ahead and believe what one metric tells you, and yeah, it probably deflates him a bit due to some errors, but the guy makes jaw-dropping plays at 3B. His arm is probably the best infield arm in the AL and his ability to charge balls up the line and make throws while paralell to the ground (happens more often that you might think) is the best that I've ever seen. His ability to make literally perfect throws while completely out of whack is really good.

We've heard the same thing said about Derek Jeter's defense. "Oh, he's great when going to his right and throwing off-balance in the hole." That's great, but what matters is not how many jaw-dropping plays a player makes, but how many plays that player makes total compared to total chances. Beltre does have a rep for a good glove, and he certainly had it last year. This year, not so much. As Charlie Wilmoth says over at BucsDugout (yes, I'm also a Pirates fan), there's a difference between what an exciting player looks like, and what a good player looks like.

Lastly, Beltre is all heart. Beltre and Jose Guillen were the heart of the 2007 M's. Beltre has no problem at all blowing up a SS on a DP or mashing a catcher at the plate. The guy gives it all out there.

That's great. I'm sure that makes him fun to watch, kinda like how pro wrestling is fun to watch. However, if you like him so much, you may be singing a different tune when he gets injured doing that kind of stuff, especially the mowing down of catchers. Regardless, talent is far more important than whatever value "heart" provides; otherwise teams would be falling over themselves trying to sign Sean Casey and Ty Wigginton.

Look, I'm not saying that Beltre is a bad player. I'm saying he's an average player. Perhaps he's worth the money he's getting right now. But you are WAY overstating his value.

If you're so high on Beltre - and you obviously are - why are you so encouraging in him possibly becoming a dreaded Yankee?

Alex Gordon, Evan Longoria, Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis, Chone Figgins, Hank Blalock. The first two have much better projectability than Beltre, and the last four were all better hitters than Beltre this past season (Youkilis played first, but he's a 3B by trade). And that's only AL 3B's. There are many better 3B's in the NL.

Beltre had a VORP of 28.3 last year. It's respectable, but it's still average.

Hell, if he's given enough playing time, I'm willing to bet that Wilson Betemit would provide the same amount of value as Beltre.