The Unending Search For Carlos Beltran

By John "Metstradamus" Coppinger
Posted Friday, August 10, 2007

Sometimes, I think Carlos Beltran can’t win.

In 2005, Beltran was bothered by a sore quad and tried to play through the pain. His production suffered, and Shea faithful begged for him to take some time off so that he could be 100% healthy when it mattered. Now flash forward to 2007, where Carlos Beltran has had a sore quad, and a strained oblique, and took the other tact this time… spending a good amount of time on the D.L. to rest his nagging injuries, so that he could be 100% healthy when it matters. And it seems that the fans still aren’t happy.

So does Beltran deserve your sympathy? More so, do the Mets deserve your sympathy for not being able to have Beltran on the field? I can see both sides of the argument here, because you don’t want a guy hitting at a .230 clip in the three-hole in your lineup. And as long as these little nicks and bruises are eating at Beltran like maggots, then Beltran is useless. He’s the living embodiment of the new age athlete, who gets in shape to the point of being so finely tuned, that a small injury (or at least an injury that sounds small but really isn’t) will affect his performance dramatically. So do you want Beltran to come back at half speed, or wait until he’s at full speed?

The real question with Carlos Beltran is not how he should treat his injuries, because there may not be a right answer to that question. But is it fair to now call him “injury prone?"? And if so, how much could this set the franchise back if the Mets have to pay him upwards of $16 million for the next four seasons? And is there anything that the Mets can do about it?

There’s all this talk about “what’s missing” from the Mets this season. After April, it’s been Carlos Beltran. You take 41 HRs and 116 RBIs out of a lineup, it’s bound to have an effect. Yet you get frustrated because you feel there still should be enough in that lineup to carry them through the day. And at three- and-a-half games in front of Atlanta, they have done that for the most part. But after what should have been Carlos Delgado’s game tying home run on Thursday afternoon (during a game where Beltran was eligible to come off the D.L. but instead stayed on the bench and watched Marlon Anderson sprain his wrist in center furthering the outfield jinx of the New York Mets this season) fell six inches short, you can’t help but feel that Beltran’s presence in that lineup would provide the Mets with the extra “six inches” they need to put this division away once and for all.

These are the games that matter. These are the games that we want Carlos Beltran to be 100% healthy. But as we know, we can’t always get what we want (see, once again: Thursday’s game). Beltran would be wise to learn that soon, and accept the fact that the only thing required to be 100% is effort.

***

The only thing hurting on me is my heart after Larry Jones stabbed it repeatedly once again. Come comiserate with me at The Musings and Prophecies of Metstradamus. Damn you Larry Jones.

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