Happy birthday to Carlos Beltran, who celebrates his 34th birthday today!

During Beltran's seven seasons on the Mets his be an All-Star four times, won three Gold Gloves, and has won the Silver Slugger Award twice. With the Mets he has a career .279 batting average and a .366 OBP. He has 137 home runs, 502 RBI and 97 stole bases.

Personally, Carlos is one of my favorite players on the Mets, and if the team doesn't bring him back next season they are going to miss him a lot. When healthy, he is the best all-around outfielder in baseball. But that's just what I think.

Mets.com — With two days remaining in Spring Training, the Mets have finally committed to making Carlos Beltran their Opening Day right fielder.

Beltran is scheduled to play in Tuesday's Grapefruit League game against the Nationals, his first Major League action since starting a game at designated hitter more than three weeks ago. In penciling his name into the lineup card, the Mets will forgo their right to backdate a potential disabled list stay for Beltran, thus displaying confidence that he will be ready to go Friday night in Miami.

"It's what we've been talking about since we arrived in this camp, that we have a good club and we need him in the lineup," manager Terry Collins said. "He's been working very, very hard."

Well I for one am sort of pleased by this. I'm not yet 100% sold on the status of his knees seeing as this is a 162 game schedule and he's played 2 games in a row going just 5 innings each time. However, nethertheless, this is a positive step forward for Carlos. Quite frankly I am unsure if I am glad about this progression for him.

– A) On the one hand, I want this madness to end and just see Carlos on the field. We all know how remarkable of a fielder he once was and how productive and versatile he can be at the plate, all of which when healthy. This is an offense that seriously struggled to produce runs last season, finishing below .500% despite a team-ERA which ranked 7th in Major Leagues. I also believe Collins' presense in the dugout as a no-nonsense guy along with Mookie back at 1B can turn things around, and having a healthy and productive Carlos Beltran will just make things better. 

–  B)  Yet on the other hand, I have always been a fan of Nick Evans due the fact he can play RF and also 1B, making him a good player to have off the bench. He played extremely well this Spring and I wanted to see him get a roster spot because he is younger and Beltran is in his final contract year. If Beltran isn't 100%, I'd rather see what Evans can do for a month. Unfortunately if Evans doesn't make the final roster spot, it seems his time as a Met is over. 

– C)  And lastly, though, Sandy Alderson has gained my trust early on by cutting dead weight such as Oliver Perez & Luis Castillo and fully trust his instincts. If he feels an 80% Carlos Beltran is safe to have on the field for 4 or 5 days a week than having a guy like Nick Evans off the bench with Harris or Hairston starting in RF, then I'm all for it. I just have my doubts, and I'm sure most of you do too.

So they're committing to Beltran now, and all we can do is hope for the best. There's no turning back in terms of the Opening Day roster. Lock and load fellas. 

PS. Check out the new MLB.com team-site designs. I haven't had a chance to look at most other teams but I sure am pleased with the new layout for Mets.com. The previous design just seemed much more clustered and a bit difficult to navigate the home page. 

According to Jon Heyman of SI.com relief pitcher Pedro Beato has been informed he has made the team. Heyman also says that relievers Jason Isringhausen, Blaine Boyer & Manny Acosta are still competing for the final bullpen spot. 

Heyman said on Twitter that Brad Emaus will start at 2nd Base, and Daniel Murphy, Scott Hairston, Willie Harris & Chin-Lung Hu have made the team as reserves, meaning that it appears inevitable OF/1B Nick Evans will not be with the team. I'm not too happy about that decision because I've always liked Nick Evans and I was extremely impressed with his .348/.394/.439 line along with 8 runs and 6 doubles. I think it came down to the fact that Nick only had 4 RBIs and had 0 Home Runs, and maybe the team wants to see players with a little more versatility at the plate who don't strike out as often (4 walks, team-high 13 strikeouts). Also, it's tough to compete with veterans who simply just had better spring training numbers than Evans. Scott Hairston had 2 HR & 8 RBIs posting a .353/.421/.608 line.

Willie Harris made a strong statement to make the team with a solid spring, accumulating 3 Home Runs and 10 RBIs, but more importantly to me he drew 11 walks against 6 strikeouts; his line was .280/.410/.560. 

Mets.com Spring Training Statistics

I like most people am glad that Beato made the team. I like his tenacity on the mound and a lot of people are impressed with the potential this kid has out of the bullpen. I wasn't necessarily blown away by his Spring Training performance, but I do think the team made the right choice. 

The race for the final bullpen spot comes down to Isringhausen, Boyer and Acosta. Isringhausen has been bothered with inflamation in his elbow, however is expected to pitch today in a relief appearance for the Mets and this could be the deciding factor as to whether or not he will make the team. Izzy has stated he will not accept a minor league assignment, which leaves me with the impression that he feels if he cannot make the team and part of it is due to the health of his elbow, he will call it a career and ride off into the sunset. However, the fact that the team has not yet released him already leads me to believe he still is the front-runner for the final spot. Statistical comparison of the final 3 relievers vying for a spot:

Andy Martino reports that Carlos Beltran's agent Scott Boras believes that his client is an outfielder, not a DH.

“Carlos Beltran is a great athlete, and I find it hard to believe that there would be three outfielders on a major league team that would match Carlos on a level to suggest he would be DH. The idea of him being an everyday player (in the outfield) is what we have in mind.” – Scott Boras

Beltran will be a free agent at the end of the year and could potentially go to the American League (where he could be a DH) if the Mets and the rest of the National League pass on him.

I don't say this much but I… agree with Scott Boras. Beltran is an outfielder. Not only that, he is STILL one of the best all around outfielders in baseball.

If Beltran is healthy and performing at the level he should be, he is easily top five outfielders in the game. Because of his knee injury he will be starting the season in right field but I wouldn't be shock if hes able to be center field next season. I wouldn't even be surprised if he played some this year. 

Steve Popper reports that Carlos Beltran will play right field and Angel Pagan will be the Mets center fielder.
Beltran had this to say:

“I still believe I can play center field, but I need time, I need more time. This will make it easier for Angel. It will take it off of his mind and let him make the transition. I don’t want to have everyone worrying about, it it is easier for everyone.”

Popper also reports that Beltran has been hobbling around and is wearing a heating pad on his right knee.

I'm happy that Beltran gave up his position willing, as far as I know he wasn't told by anyone that he needs to switch from center to right. I think this is the best thing for the Mets though. At this point in their career's, Pagan is a better fielder than Beltran. That's not taking anything away from Beltran, because he's still a good fielder, but Pagan is a Gold Glove caliber type fielder right now, and Beltran isn't any more.

To make you feel better about Beltran, Ted Berg reports that he hit a ball 430 feet during batting practice from the left side of the plate.