Andy McCullough of the Star-Ledger reports that Carlos Beltran expects to begin playing in rehab games by early April.
By April, Beltran believes he will be able to play in rehabilitation games. Then it would take about a week to 10 days before he could rejoin the club. Acclimating to baseball will be easy. Getting to that point will take some time.
By Beltran’s estimation, if he were to start playing rehab games by April 3rd or 4th, he could be on target for a return sometime around April 16th.
Looking at the schedule, the Mets will be on the road in St. Louis for the start of a three game series. I doubt the Mets would have him fly out there, so maybe (and I emphasize the word maybe) we could see Carlos Beltran take the field on Monday, April 19th ti kick off a 4-game series against the Cubs followed by a weekend series against the Braves.
Beltran firmly believes the Mets have the players to stay afloat until him and Reyes come back.
Manager Jerry Manuel doesn’t sound to worried about the Mets starting the season without Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran.
“I think and fee that we’re in a position to sustain a hit. I think our young players are a lot closer.I’m not concerned, thinking that we’re going to be a bad team. I’m not concerned about that.”
Anyway you slice it, this is very encouraging news and it’s good to know that Beltran is back on our radar and sounding very optimistic and enthusiastic about an April return.
