Note: Beltran Not Yet 100 Percent
In early October, Carlos Beltran had both of his knees ‘scoped’ to repair damage to his patella tendon, which plagued him through much of last season.
Beltran, as quoted by John Delcos in the Journal 
News…
“I don’t feel 100 percent, but I hope to be by the start of the season. I couldn’t play anymore like that. I didn’t feel pain as much as I did weakness…I just want to be 100 percent and to be able to do a lot more.”
…instead of a jersey number, beltran should just wear the number that matches his health percentage…so, when we see him running down a ball in the outfield with 89 on his back, we know he’s 89 percent healthy…etc…
…last season, i wrote the following…a lot…
…to me, two things are clear, a) beltran can be a great player, but b) when hurt his results will suffer…the problem is that he appears fragile, and i don’t know that these injuries will ever truly go away…he seems like the type of guy who’ll always have some sort of minor agitation…he won’t be on and off the disabled list because i believe he plays through the pain, but there will always be some sort of tweak or tear giving him a headache…he’ll be healthy, locked in, he’ll get hot, and we’ll love him, but then he’ll slump, or get a nagging pain, and he’ll struggle, and we’ll want to boo…and i think this will be the script, over and over again, as long as he’s on the team…
…beltran is too valuable to this team to ever consider trading…he’s a tremendous talent…the thing is, it’s not 2001…i just don’t believe, at age 31, that he’s going to hit .300 and steal 35 bases…the thing is, he’s not going to hit just 25 HR, either…he’s more powerful than that now…and while he is still a very wise base runner, instead, to me, he is this team’s clean-up hitter…or, this team’s very athletic clean-up hitter, who may steal 15 bases, but who is unlikely to hit over .280…it’s all about expectations with beltran…i stopped expecting 2001 from him, and now i seem to appreciate his ability to be a clean-up hitter more…
By the way, in the report by Delcos, Beltran also explains why Johan Santana is such an effective starting pitcher.
