After injuring his hamstring in July, Texas Rangers third baseman and cleanup hitter Adrian Beltre has already done this once.
Now, he's working at coming back again after his initial shot at getting back in the lineup was thwarted by a re-tweaking of the hamstring, but the timetable for his return is uncertain as the Rangers are being overly cautious with Beltre.
Michael Young has excelled this season, and has flourished in the cleanup role in Beltre's absence, but he'd be much better suited in the No. 5 spot. Young has better than decent at third base after struggling mightily at times last year and forcing the Rangers to bring in Beltre to shore up the hot corner. But it'd be better if Young was in his DH/Utility role again.
Simply put, the Rangers really could use Beltre back in the lineup even though they're 17-12 since Beltre got hurt.
Beltre ran the bases on Tuesday, but it was far from full speed.
Conventional wisdom would say that, barring any setbacks, Beltre could begin a rehab assignment next week sometime and make it back to Arlington sometime shortly after Sept. 1, which was the original target date for a return because rosters expand with September call-ups.
Speaking with Ben & Skin on ESPN 103.3 Wednesday morning, Rangers manager Ron Washington made his thoughts on being careful with Beltre perfectly clear.
Sports Connection
Connecting you to your favorite North Texas sports teams as well as sports news around the globe.
When asked what would happen if Beltre re-injured his hamstring once again, he had a quick answer.
"We won't see him again until spring training," Washington said.
Yikes.
