Bomber Bites With Jumping Joe–Yankees Carlos Beltran Should Have The Surgery Now

When the final nail is hammering into the coffin this Yankee season, there will be a lot of finger pointing towards different players, coaches and front office personnel to pinpoint blame for a second season in which the Yankees missed the playoffs. The Yankees had one of the worst offensive teams in franchise history in 2013, so they spent hundreds of millions to improve the lineup, acquiring the services of Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran. The result is a team that is even worse offensively than that one that featured Chris Stewart, Jayson Nix, Eduardo Nunez, Lyle Overbay, and Vernon Wells. These Bombers certainly had more than their fair share of injuries, but the biggest reason that the Yankees will miss the playoffs this season, is that the lineup was unable to score runs on a consistent basis. The Yankee lineup had underachievers up and down the lineup, but perhaps no single player represents the futility of this season better than Carlos Beltran.

Beltran grew up a Yankee fan, and wanted to play in the Bronx badly. Before he signed his seven-year, $119 million contract with the Mets, he even offered a $20 million discount to GM Brian Cashman in an effort to sign with the Yankees. The Yankees passed, only to sign him a decade later, when he was a shell of his former self. Beltran has been the worst free agent signing the Yankees have had since Carl Pavano. Beltran has been on the DL for a good chunk of the season. He has played hurt all season. He needs surgery in the off-season to repair his elbow. He has been unable to play the outfield for the majority of the second half of the season.

Mandatory Credit: Chad R. MacDonald.

Playing hurt, and wanting to be in the lineup to help the team win is an admirable quality. It that sort of leadership and self-sacrifice that a team can rally around and win a lot of games. However, it only works when the injured player is still better than his replacement. It benefits no one to play hurt and play poorly. Beltran has played hurt and played very poorly. Beltran has a .235 average to go along with 15 home runs and 45 RBI. His last home run came on August 23. He has just one extra-base hit in the month of September. He has been unable to play the field, yet he refuses to schedule the necessary surgery on his elbow until after the season. The Yankees are a team on the fringes of the playoff race, and will likely finish without a postseason berth. Beltran is not helping the Yankees the way he is playing now, and has been one of the biggest reasons why they are on the outside looking in.

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Next season is not in jeopardy for Beltran, whether he gets the surgery now or waits. The procedure has a two-month recovery time, so he should be ready for spring training in either scenario. Although it remains to be seen whether having even a healthy Beltran is a benefit or penalty for the Yankees. Beltran has managed to play in only 107 games this season, and has performed well below expectations in those games. Beltran was brought in to replace the power and run production vacated by the departure of Robinson Cano. Instead, he has done his best impression of Vernon Wells.  Wells, after all, finished last season with a .233 average 11 RBI and 50 RBI, strikingly similar those put up by Beltran.

Beltran needs to just cut his losses, and have the surgery now, and let someone else take his at-bats. He is no longer helping the Yankees. He can’t play the field, and isn’t producing at the plate. The Yankees are dead in the water. The time is right to just let the kids from the minors play out the string. Let Zelous Wheeler and Antoan Richardson play the field. Give John Ryan Murphy and Austin Romine a few extra big league at-bats. Beltran isn’t going anywhere. He is signed for two more years and has a no-trade clause. This is a lost season for he and the Yankees. The time has come to end his nightmare early, and do everything possible to get him ready for 2015 and avoid a repeat of his performance this season.