Beltran: Vets Will Stay On Starlin Castro, Also Talks Retirement

Carlos Beltran joined a lot of the Yankees fans recently in expressing his excitement for the team’s new starting second baseman Starlin Castro. Castro was traded to the New York Yankees for Adam Warren and Brendan Ryan at the winter meetings and Beltran believes, according to an interview and reports done by the New York Post, Castro is “going to be an important key for us this year.” Beltran also went on to say that “With the veterans we have, we’ll be on top of him, helping him become a better ballplayer.” Apparently the Yankees veterans are ready for a project.

Castro is just 25-years old and is already a three time All-Star that’s approaching 1,000 hits for his career. Castro is a career .281 hitter with a .725 OPS spending much of his time at shortstop for the Chicago Cubs. That’s expecting a lot out of a young kid to be better than that at age 25 but if any place and any team is going to motive a player it’s definitely New York, the New York Yankees and veterans like Beltran, Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia and others.

Also in the article Beltran was asked if he knew when he was going to retire from MLB and the Yankees right fielder was non-committal. Beltran said it depended on how his 2016 went with his health and production. Beltran has one more year left on his three year deal with the Yankees and will either retire after this contract or play one more season if his body allows. With Alex Rodriguez under contract for one more season and Beltran’s knee’s making him more of a full-time DH than an outfielder at this point it seems likely that this is the final year for Beltran in pinstripes, either way.