Carlos Beltran apparently had surgery on is knee yesterday, it seems without permission from the team to do so.  Matt Cerrone of MetsBlob.com has a nice post, unfolding the story as it came to light last night.  Before I get to my actual take on the news, I wanted to take a moment to just point out how amazing it is that a story like this can evolve in roughly 2.5 hours time.  Carlos Beltran is critical to the Mets success ( or lack thereof) and so for those who write about the team, there really could be no bigger news story.  As the word spread, and granted Matt has ties to SNY so may get things a little a quicker than most, the story took on a new life.  This off-season, twitter has changed how I follow sports, though it hasn’t changed the way I write about it yet. Still, for the writers writing yesterday, the Cerrone post shows just how the story unraveled for each member of the media involved.  If you read the New York Times story or the New York Post story, they basically all include the same facts.  (Too bad for Newsday they no longer let people read their paper for free.) But when you read the blog post, you see just how each reporter came to their version of the printed piece.

Now for my take on the Beltran thing- If I were Carlos Beltran I would not have much faith in the Mets doctors, I would feel the need to protect my knees myself.  That being said, I would have worked harder to make the case for surgery and to get approval for the surgery before I did it.  Beltran, as I think most Mets fans know, is a very sensitive player.  Working with the team to have them on board- if he knows himself at all- certainly would have made his life easier.

But I am doubtful that the Mets have much recourse contract-wise now that Beltran has done and done this surgery. If he doesn’t play this year, they might be able to say this is the reason, but they would most certainly have to prove that he would have played without it, which is nearly impossible after last season.  The other thing they have to worry about is having an upset player on their hands.  Hopefully, Jerry Manuel can maintain a sort of good cop relationship while the rest of the front office plays bad cop.  We will have to see.

The Mets are very worried because no one is going to buy season tickets this year if they haven’t already with this news.  Selling ticket packages just got harder- and that, remember, is how they pay all those free agents out there.

If its true and he will only be out 12 weeks, and assuming that is coming from his doctor and not the team, one should be able to be pretty sure of that- Beltran will be back in plenty of time.

And you know what, even with Beltran gone for a part, the team is better than it was when he was gone last year.  Reyes should be back.  Jason Bay is in the line-up.  Angel Pagan can play great defense.  Wright is not the only bat in the order, there are others.  Don’t everyone assume that its a repeat just yet.  (I know I was one of the last to say the sky is falling last year, but I just don’t think its time to give up just yet.)