Did the Mets just sign Beltran?

Gavin, over at True Blue 2005, has found a New York Fan site that is reporting that Beltran has agreed to terms with the Mets for 7 years and $112 million:

By Mike McGann
January 5, 2005 - Two separate sources within the Mets organization are telling New York Fan Sites that the team and prized free agent Carlos Beltran has reached agreement on a seven-year, $112 million contract to bring the All-Star to Flushing. The team would not confirm this report and NYFS could not get independent verification.

Why would Beltran accept an offer without giving the other teams an opportunity to respond? Well, Houston has already indicated that it's offer on the table is it's final offer:

HOUSTON -- The Houston Astros said Thursday that they've made their final offer to Carlos Beltran. They'll find out this weekend whether it was enough to keep the All-Star center fielder.

"The offer on the table is our final offer," general manager Tim Purpura said, without indicating whether Houston made a new proposal. "We're not interested in going any higher."

Add to that the fact that the Cubs have been pretty public about their reticence to break the bank with Beltran, the Tigers are apparently out of the race, and the Yankees have similarly been reported to be out of the bidding for a few days now (thank-goodness for the luxury tax!). Now I'm not saying that this report is true - but it wouldn't surprise me if it was all things considered (then again the involvement of $cott Bora$ in this affair makes this type of rumor extremely suspect - so who knows what to believe).

If this is in fact the case - 1) Kudos to Gavin for the early scoop! No one else is carrying this story - not ESPN, not propsportsdaily, no one. 2) If true, did the price for Maggs just go up? Now Houston is in the market for an outfielder as are the Cubs, Tigers, and Orioles. Oh yeah - did we mention that Maggs has the same cursed agent as Beltran? Anyone interested in a bidding war for an outfielder with questionable health?

I don't like any of this - the only positive (if true) is that Beltran is out of the central and perhaps the Rocket stays retired now - which essentially makes the central a 2-horse race between the Cardinals and Cubs (in my opinion).