Rangers notes: Beltre reaches another milestone
The numbers continue to pile up for Adrian Beltre, and those numbers continue to make the case that Beltre belongs in the debate about the greatest player from the Dominican Republic.
“Not even close,” the Texas Rangers’ third baseman said Sunday morning, a few hours before he passed Julio Franco for the most games played by a Dominican player (2,528).
“Because a lot of Dominicans are a lot better players than me.”
Maybe, but Beltre has the most hits (2,714) by a native of the Dominican Republic and now the most games. He says those are just the byproduct of having such a long career.
“I guess I should be proud of it, but I don’t really keep tabs on those kind of things,” Beltre said. “I don’t like to think about it, but it means that I’ve been able to stay healthy enough to stay on the field. Hopefully, I can keep doing that.”
Beltre also has 406 homers and another year on his contract with the Rangers, but chasing numbers won’t drive him to continue playing beyond next season. He will play if he is convinced he can still be productive and won’t just sign up for another season if, say, he’s at 2,998 hits.
Beltre is under contract for 2016 for $18 million. He said retirement isn’t imminent, but also said he doesn’t know how much longer he wants to play.
“I don’t know,” he said. “The day I don’t feel like I can do it anymore, I’ll pack up and go home.”
Beltre didn’t last long Sunday. He was ejected, along with manager Jeff Banister, in the fifth inning. Beltre said later that teammate Prince Fielder was the one voicing disagreement with a strike called against Ryan Strausborger.
Andrus, Fielder rest
Prince Fielder didn’t take the entire day off Sunday. He spent part of his morning with Derek Holland wearing their Michigan football helmets and running pass routes.
But Fielder wasn’t in the Rangers’ lineup for the finale at Comerica Park, nor was shortstop Elvis Andrus. It could be the last time either regular gets a day off the rest of the season.
“I don’t foresee any, unless there’s a need,” Banister said. “It’s an energy level you can see. As much as I’d like to have them both in, I think in the long run down the stretch, the opportunity to get them a day will be big.”
It’s actually two days, as the Rangers are off Monday. Andrus, who had started every game of the second half and 120 of 122 games this season, said that he needed the time off, but had to enter the game in the fifth inning after Beltre was ejected.
Andrus also knows what it takes to get through a stretch run.
“I’m tired,” Andrus said. “Just come every single day to compete and try to win. The mentality of fighting for the playoffs is enough.”
Venable’s impact
Outfielder Will Venable doesn’t play against left-handed pitchers, so he likely won’t be in the starting lineup again until Thursday.
But he made an impact Friday in his second start with the Rangers, using his bat and his arm to help lift them to a 2-0 victory. He doubled in the first run, taking a close 2-2 pitch for a ball before finding the gap in left-center, and threw out Miguel Cabrera at home to save a run.
Venable was glad to make an favorable impression so quickly after being traded by San Diego.
“I don’t want to try to do too much and just let things happen, and I’m glad that on Day 2 I was able to contribute to what was really a great game played by the whole team,” he said.
Jeff Wilson, 817-390-7760
Twitter: @JeffWilson_FWST
This story was originally published August 23, 2015 at 4:18 PM with the headline "Rangers notes: Beltre reaches another milestone."