MLB: Beltran to Rollins: ‘We’re team to beat’

Uh-oh...

Carlos Beltran walked into Mets camp on Saturday, took a seat on the dugout bench and said exactly what was on his mind.

“To Jimmy Rollins: We are the team to beat.”

It was unprompted, unscripted and completely unexpected. But with those nine words, Beltran instantly renewed his team’s rivalry with the Phillies and assumed a new level of leadership with the Mets. The usually quiet and reserved center fielder, perhaps emboldened by his team’s offseason acquisition of Johan Santana, stepped out of character—and there’s no reversing that now.

“Let me tell you this,” Beltran said. “Without Santana, we felt, as a team, that we had a chance to win in our division. With him now, I have no doubt that we’re going to win in our division. I have no doubt in that. We’ve got what it takes.”