By Jimmy Wendt, Mike Kalis, and Craig Wocl

 In 2005, Carlos Beltran signed a 7 year, $119 million contract to play with the New York Mets  At the time, this was only the 10 th $100 million + contract in baseball history

 The Mets were coming off of a season and a 4 th place finish in the division  Beltran was viewed by many as the team’s savior

 Beltran hit 22 fewer homeruns in his first season with the Mets than he did in the season prior to signing his new contract  The New York media was ferocious

 With the exception of the 2005 season, Beltran has put up stellar numbers for the Mets  Yet to this day, many fans will tell you that Carlos Beltran is “overrated” or “just not that good”  Our goal: To find out if Carlos Beltran is “overrated”

Descriptive Statistics: R, HR, RBI, BA, OBP, SLG, OPS-Plus, OPS, TB Variable Beltran vs. N N* Mean SE Mean StDev Minimum Q1 R Beltran MLB HR Beltran MLB RBI Beltran MLB BA Beltran MLB OBP Beltran MLB SLG Beltran MLB OPS-Plus Beltran MLB TB Beltran MLB OPS Beltran MLB

Variable Beltran vs. Median Q3 Maximum R Beltran MLB HR Beltran MLB RBI Beltran MLB BA Beltran MLB OBP Beltran MLB SLG Beltran MLB OPS-Plus Beltran MLB OPS Beltran MLB TB Beltran MLB

Variable Name N N* Mean SE Mean StDev Minimum Q1 HR Carlos Beltran Torii Hunter RBI Carlos Beltran Torii Hunter BA Carlos Beltran Torii Hunter Variable Name Median Q3 Maximum HR Carlos Beltran Torii Hunter RBI Carlos Beltran Torii Hunter BA Carlos Beltran Torii Hunter OPS-Plus Carlos Beltran Torii Hunter OPS-Plus Carlos Beltran Torii Hunter

Variable Name N N* Mean SE Mean StDev Minimum Q1 HR Carlos Beltran Curtis Granderson RBI Carlos Beltran Curtis Granderson BA Carlos Beltran Curtis Granderson Variable Name Median Q3 Maximum HR Carlos Beltran Curtis Granderson RBI Carlos Beltran Curtis Granderson BA Carlos Beltran Curtis Granderson OPS-Plus Carlos Beltran Curtis Granderson OPS-Plus Carlos Beltran Curtis Granderson

Variable Name N N* Mean SE Mean StDev Minimum Q1 HR Carlos Beltran Grady Sizemore RBI Carlos Beltran Grady Sizemore BA Carlos Beltran Grady Sizemore Variable Name Median Q3 Maximum HR Carlos Beltran Grady Sizemore RBI Carlos Beltran Grady Sizemore BA Carlos Beltran Grady Sizemore OPS -Plus Carlos Beltran Grady Sizemore OPS-Plus Carlos Beltran Grady Sizemore

Variable Name N N* Mean SE Mean StDev Minimum Q1 HR Andruw Jones * Carlos Beltran * RBI Andruw Jones * Carlos Beltran * BA Andruw Jones * Carlos Beltran * OPS-Plus Andruw Jones * Carlos Beltran * Variable Name Median Q3 Maximum HR Andruw Jones * Carlos Beltran * RBI Andruw Jones * Carlos Beltran * BA Andruw Jones * Carlos Beltran * OPS-Plus Andruw Jones * Carlos Beltran * 150.0

 Relative to his position, Carlos Beltran is not overrated at all  Centerfield is a position that sacrifices offense for defense. To get a good defensive centerfielder who also is good offensively is an asset

 Not every team had a centerfielder who played close to 162 games  We only took account the last 3 years  Further studies should be done taking into account offensive production over a 162 game span for each team out of the centerfield position  Further studies should be done taking into account defensive ability in a quantitative way

 Baseball-reference.com  Espn.com  Nypost.com  Nydailynews.com