This post was updated from an original post today.

Brian Costa of the Star-Ledger writes that Carlos Beltran arrived to camp this afternoon and that he walked with no noticeable limp when he entered the clubhouse and went into the trainer’s room, where Omar Minaya joined him a few minutes later. Adam Rubin added that Beltran was on a stationary bike with no pain the day after the surgery and had no pain. Who knows… Maybe Beltran could make a much earlier return than the late May/early June that was originally reported.

*After my original post, I came across some comments from Carlos Beltran today who spoke to reporters about his knee, rehab, and hard feelings.

“I’m right on schedule,” Beltran said. “I’m not ahead of schedule because I don’t feel like my knee right now is too stable. I wish I could run. But right now I don’t feel like that. I feel like if I run, something wrong is going to happen, because the quad is not stable, the hamstrings are not stable. Once I strengthen those areas, I think everything else is going to fall in place and it’s going to be feeling good. But right now I’m really positive. I’m very happy with the outcome. I’m looking forward to continue to strengthen the quad and strengthen the knee and make it to the point where I can go out and run. That will be the biggest test – being able to run and do baseball activity pain free.”

“No, I didn’t have hard feelings. You know, it took me a while because I’m a human being, of course, and I’m a person who has feelings. It took me like a week for me to forget everything and focus on what is important for me. What is important for me right now is just to be with the team, be ready, and being able to play.”

Jon Heyman of SI.com tweeted that Jerry Manuel is not kidding, and that Jose Reyes will be batting third until Carlos Beltran returns from the disabled list. Apparently it’s not even up for a debate, so pencil him in. I don’t really care where Jose Reyes bats for the first 20 days of a 162 day season, as long as he’s healthy, back to form, and smiling.

Jerry Manuel got bloggers attention when he said that on Sunday that there will be a “wide-open competition” between Gary Matthews Jr. and Angel Pagan for the starting center field job until Carlos Beltran returns. Huh, excuse me, what did he just say? It gets better, Manuel also said that if Matthews wins the centerfield job, he will bat in the leadoff spot. Now this is exactly the kind of out-of-the-box thinking I was hoping to see from Manuel this season. No wait a minute, what am I saying? Is it me or is Angel Pagan starting to get the Ryan Church treatment?

Question for all of you – Do you prefer these recap style posts on Mets rumblings, or do you rather each report to be it’s own blog post? Thanks MMO’ers.