Colorado Carlos

In 2011, Carlos Beltran had his finest and healthiest season in three years, combining to hit .300 for New York and San Francisco.  He also added 39 doubles, 22 home runs and 84 RBIs between the two teams.  Despite those impressive numbers, Beltran wasn't attracting much attention in the free agent market.  Until now.

According to Jon Heyman, there is one team that's putting Beltran on top of their wish list this offseason.  Heyman's tweets say it all:

#rockies are making a push for carlos beltran. they also made an offer to cuddyer. want 1 or the other.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) December 13, 2011

#rockies goal is to sign either beltran or cuddyer. they offered cuddyer more than the $25M for 3 the #twins bid
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) December 13, 2011

#rockies a terrific fit for beltran. they are interested in cuddyer too but figure it might be hard to get him out of minny
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) December 13, 2011

If Colorado doesn't get Michael Cuddyer from Minnesota, they will go all out for Beltran.  You may recall that in a game at Coors Field this past May, Beltran swatted three home runs for the Mets against the Rockies.  All three blasts came with a man on base, making Carlos the first Met to ever hit three multi-run homers in the same game.

Although Beltran only has a .276 career batting average at Coors Field, more than half of his hits have gone for extra bases.  As a result, Beltran's lifetime slugging percentage in Denver is .552, which is well above his career mark of .496.

Colorado could be a good fit for Beltran offensively, but Coors Field's spacious outfield could be difficult on his ailing knees.  Carlos has publicly stated that he would not want to be a DH, so staying in the National League would afford him the opportunity to remain an everyday outfielder, although it would be a risk for any team to sign him to a long-term deal.

Stay tuned for more news on Carlos Beltran as it breaks.  Hopefully, Jon Heyman will have his Twitter finger ready to go should Beltran sign with the Rockies soon.