Beltran Out 10-12 Weeks with Knee Surgery

Flushing, New York-- Mets centerfielder Carlos Beltran elected to have surgery to clean out the arthritic area of his right knee by his personal physician, Dr. Richard Steadman in Colorado. But the question remains did he do it with the blessing and permission of the New York Mets?

In a bizarre twist, word began to surface last night that Beltran had the surgery to alleviate pain he was experiencing while working out in preparation for the 2010 season. It just seems from the wording of the Met press release they were surprised or even shocked about this course of events.

Of course, Beltran missed a significant portion of the season last year while suffering from a deep knee bone bruise but did return in September playing a series of pain free games. After the season, he did not complain of any pain in his knees but once he intensified his off-season conditioning, pain not only persisted but intensified.

The troubling part about this is if he did this without at least a go-ahead from the Mets organization, how could they differ so much in their course of action to get Beltran healthy? This comes on the heels of a season in which public perception was the Mets handling of medical issues was at the very least debatable and questionable.

Those debates will now continue well into 2010 as arguably the team's most important player will be on the shelf for at least most of spring training.

The Mets will likely hold a conference call tomorrow to clarify some of these questions but Met fans must feel like they are in an echo chamber reliving the day in and day out misery of a year ago.

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