PHILADELPHIA — Carlos Beltran sat in the Giants’ clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park last night, chatting pregame to his left with former Kansas City teammate Jeffrey Affeldt. Over Beltran’s right shoulder, his former Mets teammates by one day were playing the Reds on TV. Beltran didn’t look up.
Nope, it hasn’t taken Beltran long to move on.
Beltran, traded by the Mets Wednesday for highly regarded right-handed pitching prospect Zack Wheeler, said it was tough leaving friends he had made in his six-plus seasons in New York, but it wasn’t difficult accepting a deal that landed him with the reigning World Series champs.
Beltran said he wanted to play for a contending team. The Giants are. The Mets aren’t.
“It was hard in the sense I’ve been with the organization seven years and I have friends there,” said Beltran, a six-time All-Star who hit third, played right — making one nice, sliding, divot-creating catch — and went 0-for-4 (two strikeouts) in his Giants’ debut last night during a 4-1 victory over the Phillies. “But the decision wasn’t difficult because I knew I was going to come to a team that is in first place.
“And for the Mets to win that division is uphill because of the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves. I always made it clear to the organization I was willing to go to a team in contention, so once they approached me [Wednesday] about the San Francisco Giants, I said, ‘Of course I want to be part of that.’ ”
Beltran becomes a prime piece for a team that has been there, done that, as opposed to being perhaps the central figure expected to get the team to the promised land.
Beltran came to the Mets with a seven-year, $119-million contract after stunning playoff success with Houston in 2004 (“He was superman,” manager Bruce Bochy recalled). But the Mets never achieved the ultimate goal.
Despite some impressive numbers — such as 41 homers in 2006 or three 100-plus RBI seasons — the image of Beltran carried by most Mets fans is of him frozen by an Adam Wainwright curveball with the bases loaded as the Cardinals won the 2006 National League pennant.
If not that, then it’s an image of an injured Beltran.
“The years that I was healthy, I did the best I could to help the team win,” Beltran, 34, said. “I had good years there and unfortunately, when you’re hurt there is no chance you can help your team win.
“Unfortunately we didn’t win anything. And we had good teams from 2006 through 2008.”
Now Beltran will finish 2011 with the Giants then head back to free agency like in 2004.
“I’m not thinking about ’04. Already, I got paid for ’04,” Beltran said jokingly.
Beltran, the best available bat on the trade market, was coveted by the Giants, whose Tim Lincecum-led deep rotation made it possible to deal Wheeler. Everybody got what they wanted. The Giants got the bat to ease the losses by injury of Buster Posey and Freddy Sanchez. Beltran got a contender.
The Mets, who also will pay $4 million of the $6 million left on Beltran’s deal for this season, got a pitching prospect.
“We’ve been challenged offensively,” said Bochy, who inserted Beltran in right, shifting Nate Schierholtz to left. “We lost two really good hitters in the heart of our order.
“Now to have one of the elite offensive players in the game, it makes sense. The Mets got a nice player and we got a great player.”
Beltran “looked alright” in his first game, said Bochy, who stressed “you saw his presence” in the lineup while admitting he held his breath, given Beltran’s health history, on the sliding catch in the fifth.
“Nervous? I was. I thought, ‘Jeez, not the first game,’ ” Bochy added.
Beltran said a brace for his right knee dug up the turf “but I was fine.”
“I didn’t have the day maybe everyone was expecting, but the most important part was we were able to win,” he said. “One day is hard to say. This is something I need to do every day. Fifteen days from now we can talk.”