FORT MYERS, Fla. – Carlos Beltran was holding court a few feet from the batting cages here at jetBlue Park with two writers, Peter Gammons and yours truly.
That’s right, two Hall of Famers and little old me.
What started as talking baseball, in vintage Gammons form, morphed into the sport’s biggest problem, in Beltran’s opinion, the blending the old and the new.
“The old” is knowledge/experience from the legends of the game. “The new” are represented by those laptops just outside of those batting cages.
Beltran is general manager of the Puerto Rican team, here for two days – workout Monday and game on Tuesday night – for a “friendly” with the Boston Red Sox.
The obvious connection with the team being here in Fort Myers is Red Sox manager Alex Cora, one of the proudest Puerto Ricans of them all.
Beltran’s team is a long shot, especially when its top three players – Mets Francisco Lindor, Twins Carlos Correa and Blue Jays Jose Berrios – opted out due to offseason surgeries. Anyway, the eventual winner is expected to be among the Big Four – USA, Japan, Dominican Republic or Venezuela.
But in terms of coaching, nobody has “Beltran’s boys” beat.
He chose future Hall of Fame catcher Yadier Molina (Cardinals) as his manager; Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez (Mariners) and two-time MVP Juan Gonzalez (Rangers) as the hitting coaches. And for good measure, six-time all-star Sandy Alomar (Indians) as a first base coach.
Those former MLB legends alone have 73 years of elite experience.
“I spoke to the team (on Monday),” said Beltran. “The thing I want them to take from this the most is not only the knowledge they will get in these few weeks, but the relationships.
“This group of coaches?” Beltran told his players. “Look at them. This is the best of the best. They’ve been through so much in this sport. Our goal should be, in the end, to remember the relationships.”
Beltran has seen and heard about the fact that many franchises, including the Red Sox and Yankees, don’t really rely on the past knowledge and relationships any more.
“I embrace analytics as a tool, absolutely,” said Beltran. “They can identify problems in a swing. When we were struggling, we’d made adjustments and adjustments until we figured things out. Sometimes it might be three weeks. Now, it seems the technology can shorten those slumps.”
Beltran said one of the key revelations of his career happened over his first six-plus seasons with Kansas City Royals from 1998 through 2004, spending hours with a legend and future Hall of Famer George Brett.
“He showed me how to be real smooth with the bat, going back and forth,” said Beltran, as if he was preparing for a pitch. “We weren’t the same players. He was a very emotional, intense player. I was more even-keeled. And our swings were different.
“But that stayed with me and my swing my entire career,” said Beltran. “I can’t tell you how important that was for me, a young player, hearing that from a legend. We need more of that today.”
Beltran said the best argument for what he is saying is literally there for everyone to see, a National Baseball Hall of Fame documentary/film, “Generations of the Game,” narrated by 19 legends.
“That should be shown in every spring training clubhouse, every minor clubhouse,” said Beltran. “Our young players need to understand and appreciate the people that came before them. The people running our (MLB) franchises need to watch it, too. It’s only about fourteen minutes long. I got emotional watching it.”
Beltran says rather than cast blame, he’d rather be part of the solution.
“There are guys that will leave this game making two hundred million dollars and they will not be inducted into the Hall of Fame,” he said. “Those guys need to understand the guys before them, the legends like Joe Morgan, George Brett, Nolan Ryan … “
“And they can learn from them, too, and have relationships that will last a lifetime,” said Beltran. “That’s my favorite part of my career – the relationships.”
You can email Bill Burt at bburt@eagletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @burttalkssports.