Carlos Beltran Has Surgery, Mets Don't Like It

The calendar says that it’s 2010, but for the New York Mets, 2009 keeps on rolling along. To the surprise of the Mets (or maybe not), Carlos Beltran had knee surgery yesterday. He may not be able to resume baseball activities for up to 12 weeks.

I’m no math whiz, but 12 weeks is about three months, which puts us into April. And only then can he start running, hitting, and not sliding, so it looks like his return to the lineup would not be until May. But like last season, I’ll believe he’ll be back when I actually see him on the field.

And since this is the Mets we’re talking about, this news comes with controversy. Beltran’s agent, the always honest Scott Boras , claims, “This was necessary surgery, necessary surgery to work.”

However, the Mets feel it was done without their permission, though they were kept abreast of the center fielder’s condition since the end of last season, and they are even threatening to take some sort of legal action with the commissioner’s office.

Putting Beltran on double secret probation is a possibility.

Here is a statement released by the Mets:

“Carlos Beltran had worsening of osteoarthritis of the right knee during the offseason. He had not been experiencing pain following the conclusion of the season and into his early offseason conditioning. The symptoms returned to the point where pre-spring training conditioning became too painful. He elected to undergo arthroscopic [to] clean out of the arthritic area of his knee by Beltran's personal physician Dr. Richard Steadman today in Colorado. He is anticipated to return to baseball activities in 12 weeks.”

This all could have been avoided if Beltran would have had surgery last summer when he originally wanted to undergo the procedure. The Mets wanted him to rehab instead, and so he complied.

He did get back on the field at the end of the 2009 season, and was even feeling fine a few months ago.

Now he and the team are butting heads, as the Mets bungle another injury situation. Whoever is right or wrong, it’s the whole organization that comes off as inept and incompetent.

Get ready for a heavy dose of Angel Pagan in 2010.