When Adrian Beltre had a bone spur removed from his shoulder June 30, the Mariners expected to be without their third basemen for six to eight weeks. Instead, he'll be back in just under five, as the Mariners are reportedly going to have him back Tuesday night when they square off against the Royals. Beltre was having an off year before going down, but his bat will be welcomed back into the fray immediately. The Mariners have only scored 405 runs this season. Only the Royals -- at 401 -- have scored fewer in the American League. Their .712 team OPS is ahead of only the Royals and A's in the AL.
Before his injury, Beltre was hitting .259 with an awful .291 on-base percentage. Still, this a good defensive third basemen who generally puts up low-to-mid 20s in home runs with more than 75 RBI and an OPS of around .800 per season. Once he works his way back into game shape, you can expect his numbers to rise and him to provide help in the middle of the Mariners batting order.
Another wrinkle here is the fact that Beltre is in a contract year. His five-year, $64 million deal -- which many would call ill-advised after what appears to have been a gigantic fluke 2004 season -- expires at the end of the current season. The thing is, though, he's become pretty underrated since then. If you can focus on every year except the outlier '04 campaign, you can see a consistent run producer with a good glove.
It could be argued Beltre's motivation to earn a 2010 gig was part of the reason he healed so quickly. In turn, you could argue he's going to have a big two months to close out the 2009 season. He'll begin his attempt Tuesday night.
