Risky Move For Adrian Beltre and Seattle Mariners

The other day we reveled in Jeff Bennett’s toughness for pitching with a broken hand, but the reality is that playing hurt—whether from a baseball injury or from starting a fight club with your clubhouse door—is never a smart idea.

The Seattle Mariners organization, however, apparently missed that memo. (Do they not check Twitter?  Gosh, get with the program!)

Adrian Beltre, the Mariners starting third baseman, is struggling through a miserable offensive season.  His power numbers—five home runs and a measly .374 slugging percentage—are down significantly in comparison to his career stats.

Seattle has been looking for answers to Beltre’s problems at the plate, and last week, the puzzle was solved.  Doctors discovered that bone spurs had reappeared in Beltre’s left shoulder, which was operated on last season but was clearly still impairing his swing.

At that time though, Beltre reminded the team that he played through similar pain for the last two months of the 2008 season.  The Mariners listened to their star and consented to let him try playing through the injury once again.

We don’t have an issue with that initial decision, but the circumstances changed prior to Seattle’s weekend series against the Dodgers.

Beltre informed the team that he had changed his mind and would now opt for shoulder surgery, keeping him out of the lineup for the next one to two months.

In our opinion, when a players tells you that he’s too hurt to continue playing every day—it’s usually a good sign that it’s time to put him on the disabled list.

But the Mariners evidently have a different approach to dealing with injured players, because even though Beltre had the surgery scheduled for Tuesday of this week, Seattle basically said – he’s not under the knife yet, so why not have him keep playing.

With bone spurs bursting through his biceps, Adrian Beltre started all three games in Los Angeles.  Not surprisingly, he didn’t contribute much—going just 2 for 13 in the series.

You’d think the least the Mariners could do would be letting Beltre DH and rest his shoulder in between at-bats, but nope—he was on the field, risking further damage to that shoulder, for the entire three-game set.  That makes less sense than buying a convertible and starting a sunglass factory in Seattle.

Wouldn’t it have been a bit more efficient to schedule the surgery for as soon as possible and get Beltre on the recovery track faster?  Was Tuesday really the earliest they could get a shoulder doctor?

Come on—you’re the flippin’ Seattle Mariners!  Even if you suck, everyone in Seattle still loves you because at least you didn’t move to Oklahoma City.  And you’re telling me you couldn’t get your star third baseman into any hospital over the weekend?

If Steve Jobs can cut the entire liver transplant line, we think you could at least pull some strings at Seattle Grace.  Was McDreamy really too busy not shaving to come in and play around with some bone spurs?

The Mariners’ actions might not make a lot of sense, but they do have one excuse.  They needed Beltre to stay in the lineup for as long as possible, because as we’ll all find out over the next six to eight weeks, they don’t have anyone ready to take his spot at third base.