If it's time to go, Beltran going good
Carlos Beltran of the New York Mets celebrates his fifth inning two run home run against the Los Angeles Angels at Citi Field. (June 18, 2011) Credit: Jim McIsaac
Carlos Beltran, now nearing the finish line of his seven-year run with the Mets, has dealt with plenty of serious issues during that period.
The assorted knee problems and surgeries, the move to rightfield, the whole Walter Reed controversy, his pending free agency.
Through it all, Beltran has maintained a rather stoic approach and mostly defused those hot-button topics. But just as he's preparing for his exit from Flushing, Beltran seems to be having the most fun of his time here, which was somewhat unexpected after the trepidation during spring training. The rightfielder no longer seems weighed down by medical concerns, and that's been evident in every aspect of his game.
"I know what I'm capable of doing in the field, and this year, being healthy, it really has allowed me to play at the level I know I can play at," Beltran said. "When you're healthy, and good things are happening to you, you're going to have more fun."
Beltran and Jose Reyes have been the only anchors for a transient Mets lineup that has been speckled with Triple-A call-ups since the team lost David Wright and Ike Davis more than a month ago. Occasionally refusing days off because of the absence of Wright and Davis, Beltran has played in 70 of the first 72 games, batting .288 with a team-leading 10 homers and 44 RBIs.
How scrambled is the Mets' offense? Justin Turner is next on the RBI list with 30, followed by Reyes (29) and Daniel Murphy (22). Normally, it would be Wright and Davis filling out that leader board. But their absence has made Beltran more indispensable than ever -- and may have further complicated the Mets' trade options leading up to the July 31 non-waivers deadline.
With Wright and Davis scheduled to be checked out again this week, whatever the doctors say could have a big impact on Beltran's future. The Mets must be considered players in the wild-card race at this point -- they entered Monday only 4½ games back -- and dealing Beltran would drive a stake through any contending hopes, however slim.
"We're there, numberswise," Beltran said. "But at the same time, we don't need to focus on that right now. I think what we need to focus on is showing up, playing hard and trying to win ballgames. That will take care of itself. If you start thinking we need to win today in order to keep ourselves in this position, then you take the whole magic out of it."
Even if Wright and Davis are cleared for baseball activities this week, it's unlikely they would return much before the All-Star break. That leaves Beltran and Reyes to carry most of the burden through one of the more difficult stretches of the season: to Texas and Detroit, then back home for the second round of the Subway Series before hitting the road again for Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Trading Beltran would save some money -- he's earning $18 million this season -- and maybe net a prospect, depending on how much of that contract the Mets are willing to eat. But if the Mets plan to stay in the race, it would send a disheartening message to the clubhouse, especially without Wright or Davis around to pick up the slack.
"You can't lose the energy, you can't lose the positive, because the players will read into it," Terry Collins said. "And the minute they think, 'Oh gosh, our guys aren't here, the manager has given up,' they'll sense it, and then they'll feel that we won't be any good until everybody comes back. That's not the way you can run this."
