PEORIA, Ariz. — Adrian Beltre had planned to play two games to test his surgically repaired left shoulder, then decide Saturday afternoon whether he would leave the Seattle Mariners and play in the World Baseball Classic.
But after feeling so good Friday in his first exhibition of spring training, Beltre already had made up his mind. He was going.
Saturday morning, the decision was made for him. The Mariners said he wasn’t.
General manager Jack Zduriencik told Beltre that the Mainers aren’t convinced he’s 100 percent healthy and that they won’t allow him to play for the Dominican Republic. He would have joined that team today.
This comes after Beltre said he was told two weeks ago that the decision would be his to make, not the team’s.
“I thought it was going to be in my hands, but it’s not,” he said.
Beltre had surgery Sept. 18 to repair injuries to his left shoulder and left thumb, but he said he accelerated his offseason workouts to ensure he would be ready for the WBC.
“I did my workouts and rehab around the Classic,” Beltre said. “I was willing to wait before making a decision to make sure I was healthy enough to play.”
After Friday’s game, when Beltre was the DH, he felt so good that he gave up his apartment in Arizona figuring he’d be with the Dominican team well into March.
“From the team side I probably can agree with it,” Beltre said. “But being a Dominican and wanting to represent my country, I am disappointed because I thought I was going to go. I would be (ticked) about it if there was no reason for them to block it. That would make me angry. I understand their point of view and I am probably being a little selfish here. But I’m disappointed because I had my mind made up for two days that I was going to go, and now I am not.”
Zduriencik said the team can’t afford for Beltre, one of its top run producers and a Gold Glove player at third base, to get hurt. While injury is just as possible during spring training as it would be during the WBC, the Mariners say they can control Beltre’s workload better in their own camp.
Beltre understands, but he wonders why the Mariners didn’t tell him two weeks ago.
“That would have made it easier for me,” he said. “I would probably have taken it slower if I knew I wasn’t going to go, to make sure I didn’t have any setbacks. I rushed a little bit because I wanted to find out how my shoulder was.”
Zduriencik said the Mariners held out hope two weeks ago that Beltre would be completely healthy by now.
“Anything short of 100 percent would not have been the best thing,” Zduriencik said. “I don’t even know where he’s at. Is he 80 percent, 85 percent, 90 percent?
“The reason this took a little bit of time is that I was sympathetic to his heart. He wanted to play. This is something he expressed his desire to do and I wanted to take all of that into consideration.”
Zduriencik didn’t believe the situation would affect future dealings between the club and Beltre, who’ll be a free agent after the season.
“I think they’re separate issues,” Zduriencik said. “I have tremendous admiration for this player. I admire him for what he’s done and I respect him as a person and as a player. Hopefully, this isn’t anything further than just this particular issue. Like any other player, he has the right to choose free agency if that’s what he chooses. But we as an organization have our desires as well.
“I hope this is something he looks at and realizes that in my position, this decision had to be made for the right reasons. We need this player and we need this player badly to be a competitive club this year.”
Read Kirby Arnold’s blog from spring training at www.heraldnet.com
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