Beltran has recently come out and admitted he's still having some issues with his quad, and while he says its not the cause of his plate struggles, chances are its at the very least a factor. We can blame part of it on less plate dicipline (a first pitch pop up?), but my years of medical training (watching House) makes me think the Quad is having some effect.

That being said, he's defense has not struggled, on top of which, we're not exactly overflowing with outfield options.  Lastings is one to two weeks from resuming running. And thats running. Add another one to two weeks on top of that before he'd be activated. And then at least another week in AAA before he'd have teh rust shaken off to be ready for a call up. Endy is gone, month minimum.  Alou is no closer to a return then he was when he was first placed on the DL. 

So that leaves the options as thus: play it out. Leave Beltran in for a bit more, assuming his injury doesnt get worse, and see if he gets out of his slump.  If not, start this thinking process over. Second: bench him. A radical move. But temporarily make Beltran the highest paid bench player in the game. He can do the Endy style pinch hit, late inning defensive substitute, but keep his playing time to the minumum.  In this scenerio, Gomez would probably get shifted over and Ledee and Easley could platoon in left. This keeps Beltran around, but puts less strain on him perhaps giving him a chance to heal. The third option, the DL. Give Beltran a full 15 days off, and roll the dice with on of the AAA guys who is still currently in one peice.  The primary options would be Ben Johnson or Chip Ambres.  Again, the question here isn't who replaces Beltran's bat, since he's slumping, but who replaces his steller D.

Food for thought for scenario 3: Chip Ambres is hitting .373 for the month of June, including a series against Iowa where he went 13 for 21. So far this month he has 4 HRs, 2 doubles, 13 RBI's, and 16 runs. Jesus Feliciano is hitting .315 overall, .371 for June, but with lower runs (8) and RBIs (3). Johnson is still struggling a bit since his return to the Zephyrs.

If I was in charge (a scarey thought, I'm no Omar) I'd go with option two. Call me crazy. Tell me you don't make a multimillion dollar bench player. But I think its worth a try. Put Beltran in the Endy role. Keep him active so we can put him out there to protect a lead (assuming we get leads), while letting someone else take the at bats. Shift Gomez to center. Could Ledee or Easley really do worse at the plate? And the shortened playing time would hopefully let Beltran get back to (or at least closer to) 100% without removing him as an option should the immediate need arise.

All this being said now, there is the other issue: Beltran seems to have fallen to the A-Rod Zone with some fans. Its been mentioned by others, elsewhere as well. No matter what Beltran does, he gets crap from the fans. If he plays hurt, he should sit because he's hurting the team.  If he sits, he's weak. If he's quiet, he's hiding something and needs to speak up.  When he speak's up, he's wrong too. Personally, I think there are very few reasons one should boo one of our guys.  So as long as Beltran isn't cheating, roiding, or getting caught doing coke off of a stripper, stop giving him a hard time. If my quad was hurt I'd probably take some time off, and I don't play a professional sport. Unless you count drinking as a sport. You don't? Oh well. He's out there every day, putting his body on the line for the team. So cut him some slack.