(Updated Dec. 23, 2019)
When first baseman Albert Pujols made the decision to leave the Cardinals after the 2011 World Series championship season, general manager John Mozeliak didn’t panic. Instead, he signed Carlos Beltran.
Beltran accomplished what the Cardinals hoped to get from him and what he expected to get from the Cardinals.
With steady production and a classy demeanor, Beltran, a right fielder, helped the Cardinals remain contenders while easing concerns about the loss of Pujols to the Angels.
In return, the Cardinals gave Beltran a chance to play for his first pennant winner.
That’s a winner
In Beltran’s two years with St. Louis, the Cardinals reached the National League Championship Series in 2012 and won the National League pennant in 2013.
In Pujols’ first two years with Anaheim, the Angels failed to qualify for the postseason.
Here are the combined 2012-13 statistics for Beltran with the Cardinals and Pujols with the Angels:
2012-13
Category…..AB……Hits…..2B….HR….RBI…..BA…….OBP
Beltran…….1101…….311………56……56..…..181…….(.282)….(.343)
Pujols………998….….274..……69……47..…..169…….(.275)….(.338)
Beltran hit 32 home runs with 97 RBI and 147 hits in 151 games for the 2012 Cardinals, who got within a win of reaching the World Series.
In 2013, Beltran hit 24 home runs with 84 RBI and 164 hits in 145 games for St. Louis, reaching the World Series for the first time in a big-league career that started in 1998.
Beltran produced six RBI apiece in the National League Division Series against the Pirates and in the National League Championship Series against the Dodgers in 2013. He hit .294 (5-for-17) with three RBI in the World Series versus the Red Sox.
Cardinals smart, aggressive
When Beltran left the Giants and signed as a free agent with the Cardinals on Dec. 23, 2011, most hailed Mozeliak for adding a productive veteran to the lineup.
_ Richard Justice, MLB.com: “The Cards may have gotten a player who is an absolutely perfect fit for the situation they find themselves in … From the moment Pujols signed with the Angels, Beltran was the single guy who made the most sense.”
_ Tristan Cockcroft, ESPN.com: “Beltran, while not Pujols, provides an underrated punch for … the Cardinals.”
Bernie Miklasz, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “This was an aggressive, smart move by the Cardinals. Aggressive because they successfully recruited one of the top five position players available on the free-agent market this offseason … And the organization was aggressive in a way that should silence those who predicted that chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. would go cheap instead of throwing money down in response to Pujols’ departure.”
The Cardinals signed Beltran to a two-year deal worth $26 million.
Wrote Miklasz: “The Cardinals were smart in the way they structured the deal. As a tradeoff for the larger yearly salary, the Cards limited their investment to two seasons.”
Mozeliak indicated Beltran was the Cardinals’ No. 1 target after Pujols bolted.
“One of the exercises we were doing at the winter meetings was definitely looking at what the world might look like if we weren’t able to keep Albert,” Mozeliak said to MLB.com. “So really, at the moment of realization, we had a pretty good idea of what we were going to do and how we were going to do it. Didn’t actually know if we could pull it off.”
In an interview that appeared in the Post-Dispatch on Christmas Day 2011, Beltran explained to Derrick Goold why he signed with St. Louis: “I’m looking for an opportunity to win a championship … I believe the Cardinals are a club that can do it again.”
Previously: Second spot pop: Carlos Beltran like Chris Duncan
RetroSimba 
Carlos Beltran should have retired as a Cardinal. Yes, I know the team was loaded with “prospects”. I know that the future looked bright with Oscar Taveras. I know that none of us could have envisioned the demise of Allen Craig. Yes, I know that we had a manager who was going to be a great communicator with all the young players. Well, we all know how things panned out. Even in overpaying for Carlos, the team still would have saved money if you take into consideration all the wasted money invested in FA busts and prospects who didn’t work out. With Beltran, not only did we have a player who could still produce, but the good he would have brought to the atmosphere in the clubhouse, is priceless.
Carlos Beltran was 36 when he departed the Cardinals for free agency after the 2013 World Series. The Cardinals haven’t been back to a World Series since. Beltran played 4 more seasons in the majors. In 2016, he batted .295 with 29 home runs and 93 RBI in 151 games combined for Yankees and Rangers. In 2017, his final season as a player, he helped the Astros to their only World Series championship.