Although it would have been great to upgrade at catcher or shortstop, I believe there is a fairly large marginal improvement from our current corner outfield production.

I did a simple calculation of what a strict Schierholtz-Ross (Schierholtz against righties and Ross against lefties) platoon would have produced thus far in 2011. I'd take the following in a corner outfielder:

Nody Schierhoss in 2011

PAs: 307

H: 81

2B: 19

HR: 9

RBI: 40

AVG: .289

OBP: .345

SLG: .461

OPS: .806

The flipside of Mr. Schierhoss (that is, combined Ross against righties and Nate against lefties) - well, let's just say he'd be a slight upgrade over Chreli Stewartside.

PAs: 278

H: 60

2B: 17

HR: 5

RBI: 27

AVG: .243

OBP: .320

SLG: .372

OPS: .693

Obviously it's overly simplistic to think that Carlos Beltran's marginal improvement is strictly his numbers as compared to the dark side of the Schierholtz-Ross combination (Burrell, Rowand, Huff and Belt have all logged innings in corner OF) not to mention the likely marginal loss of outfield defense in right. But given that that combination has a significant number of PAs facing both lefties and righties, it makes me feel that there is some merit to thinking of it in that sense. Which makes me like this trade.

(For what it's worth, here are Beltran's 2011 splits. His low average from the right side is ameliorated by the power he generates from there, leading to an .836 OPS against lefties.)