Get Him! Got Him? Good.

If Carlos Beltran can save the Mets, just imagine what he can do for your fantasy team

Carlos Beltran sits alone in the dugout, surrounded by clothes. Forty shirts hang to his right, 20 pairs of pants to his left. "How do you like this one?" asks the wardrobe guy from GQ, as he pulls a bright pink shirt from its hanger. Beltran laughs and responds, "I'll wear whatever you want me to wear …but if I were picking, it wouldn't be that one." He rolls his eyes, not in disgust, but in mock disbelief at what comes along with being the $119 million centerfielder of the New Mets. "They have me modeling," he says with a smile. On his first day of spring training at Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie, Fla., he posed for two photo shoots. On his second day, he did two more, including one for The Magazine. On the third day, he taped a public service announcement with Pedro Martinez for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. On the fourth day, Mets PR director Jay Horwitz said with a weary smile, "Carlos is going to kill me."

The moment Beltran emerged from the clubhouse for the first time with "Mets" in script across his chest, 15 cameras followed him everywhere, as if he knew where the buried treasure was located. "We had maybe two cameras in Kansas City," he says of his 5½ years with the Royals. It's a long way from KC to GQ, but so far, Beltran has been relaxed and patient with all the attention. "It was a circus," teammate Mike Cameron says of Beltran's arrival. "I told him, 'Don't let it get to you.' It's crazy. There's always so much going on. And if anything goes wrong, he's the first one the media are going to go to."

Very little went wrong for Beltran in the postseason last year. He showed us what it must have been like to watch Mickey Mantle in the '50s, gliding through the Minute Maid Park outfield, hitting clutch home runs and running the bases as well as anyone in the game. "You bet I got a good look at him," says new Mets manager Willie Randolph. "Me, and everyone else in the world. He was incredible. But I wasn't surprised. With the Yankees, we saw him play for years in Kansas City. We already knew how good he was."

Even before he's played his first game, Beltran is already the best centerfielder the Mets have ever had. He's precisely what the franchise needed: a young, charismatic player who can draw fans to Shea Stadium and help the Mets compete with the Yankees for the back pages of the New York tabloids. The Mets had to have another bat in the middle of their lineup; switch-hitter Beltran jacked 38 homers last year, plus another eight in the playoffs. They had to improve their outfield defense, which was atrocious at times last year. With Beltran in center and Gold Glover Cameron moving to right, the D is significantly better. They needed more speed; among players with at least 200 attempts, Beltran's .893 stolen-base success rate is the best in baseball since the stat was first tracked in both leagues in 1951.

The big fantasy question: how will Beltran's numbers play at Shea? Last year the Mets' 40-year-old dump ranked 24th among all big league ballparks in batting average (.257) and homers (152) and 25th in runs scored (698). In only six games there, Beltran has batted .176 with 1 HR, 1 RBI. But that won't stop him from being a top-five pick in most fantasy drafts.

In reality, the Mets need all the help they can get in baseball's best division. The Braves, who have won 13 straight titles, are demonstrably better, having added two potential 20-game winners to their rotation in Tim Hudson and John Smoltz. The Marlins signed Carlos Delgado to a team that's only two years removed from a World Series championship. The Phillies have more talent than they showed last season.

"On paper, we're much improved," says Mike Piazza. "We've had good talent before and not won. But the attitude here is so much better with Pedro and Carlos."

Beltran allowed his wife, Jessica, to pick where they're going to live in New York. She chose Long Island. "It's 25 minutes from the ballpark," he says. "That's without traffic. It might be an hour with traffic. But she's happy."

So is her husband. He's quickly become the face of the franchise, as well as the cover of the Mets' pocket schedule. He looks like a movie star, which is why GQ is setting up racks in the dugout.

As the wardrobe guy opens another trunk of clothes, Beltran just smiles and says, "You have underwear in there, too?"

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