Let's face it, you will never get Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre for a low price. The slugger has been one of the best all-around hitters in all of baseball over the past decade and has shown absolutely no signs of decline even though he is 35 years old.
Nope, Beltre will not come at a low price; however, right now you can get him for pretty much as low as possible. He missed a small amount of games due to injury and is still yet to hit his first home run of 2014. To make matters worse, he is only hitting .255 through his first fourteen games.
To be fair, though, Beltre's struggles can be attributed to several different things: his injury, a Rangers lineup that still has not clicked and a small sample size.
Beltre missed fourteen games with a quadricep injury and has not hit very well since returning. This, however, is common among players who miss time from injuries; you cannot expect a player to come off of the DL without needing to shake off a little bit of rust first. Expect him to start returning to form once he completely heals and is back in the swing of things.
Also, Texas underwent a lineup re-structuring this offseason as the Rangers added the likes of Shin-Soo Choo and Prince Fielder while losing important names like Ian Kinsler and A.J. Pierzynski. So far, Choo has missed a small amount of games with an injury while Fielder has struggled. In addition, shortstop Elvis Andrus, who occupies the second slot in the lineup, has struggled so far this season; hitting only .229.
Texas's lineup will eventually come together and start producing runs, and Beltre's numbers will have a huge spike when it does.
Last but definitely not least, Beltre has only played fourteen games this season. Some people may overreact to his somewhat slow start but, in reality, it is a 162-game season. Every player has his struggles now and then, and Beltre's have not even been overly significant especially considering all of the extra factors that could have contributed to them.
If you can catch a panicking Beltre owner, take advantage of him/her. Don't expect to get Beltre for a few bench players, but expect to pay a little less then you normally would for one of the best third basemen in the game.