...Not To Beltran

The Mets signed Carlos Beltran to a 7 year, $119M contract. Word on the Cubs' offer is that it topped out at 5 years, $75M; apparently management was seeking a discount for the opportunity to play at Wrigley and lead the Cubs to postseason glory. I'm not about to jump on the Mets' bandwagon; regardless of the fact that they signed Beltran and Pedro Martinez, they still have too many question marks to be considered serious contenders. With respect to the Cubs, however, you've got to wonder what they're thinking. They clearly need a power hitting OF to replace Moises Alou, regardless of how the Sosa situation resolves itself. By not making a serious run at Beltran, or at Magglio Ordonez while the Beltran derby was on, they hurt their negotiations with fgree agents like Ordonez, by allowing the field of available OF to be winnowed down. Once again, here's hoping Jim Hendry has a few more bb's in his pellet rifle, because the idea of a Jason Dubois/Todd Holandsworth platoon in LF smacks of trouble. It pains me to say, but at this point, I think the White Sox's free agent moves look better than the Cubs'...