Sports

POSTED: Saturday, Sep. 13, 2008

MARINERS NOTEBOOK: Beltre's season over

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Adrian Beltre wrestled with the decision, talked to family and teammates and finally made up his mind – today will be his last game of the season.

On Thursday, he will undergo thumb and shoulder surgery.

What persuaded him?

“I want to help this team the best I can next year, and doing it now will make sure I’m 100 percent ready for spring training,” Beltre said. “Everyone I talked to basically asked why I was still playing.”

While the shoulder surgery is routine and will be arthroscopic, Beltre’s left thumb will be a major operation – one the team trainer said will be the equivalent of reconstructive “Tommy John” surgery. Doctors will have to replace a ligament torn in May 2007, and Beltre’s rehabilitation is expected to take four to five months.

Next year is the final season on Beltre’s five-year, $64 million contract, and he was asked if he expected a trade in the offseason.

“I have no control over that,” Beltre said. “I want to be back, but I want to win, too. If the team is really going to rebuild, I wouldn’t want to be in that situation.”

Playing all season with the torn ligament, Beltre batting .270 with 25 home runs and 76 RBI. His last game today will be his 143rd of the season.

“Adrian hasn’t been pain free since spring training, but he’s never asked out of the lineup,” manager Jim Riggleman said. “In fact, getting him to take a day off is a fight. He’s a complete professional.”

Beltre injured the thumb diving for a ground ball at Safeco Field on May 31 last year against Texas. When X-rays showed no break, he returned to the lineup after nearly two weeks. The ligament tear wasn’t discovered until Beltre had a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exam last December.

He had the option of surgery then, but would have missed the start of the regular season, so he decided to play with it.

Lopez takes first

Jose Lopez came up as a shortstop, played third base one year in the All-Star Game and has been the Mariners’ starting second baseman for the past three seasons.

On Saturday, he made his first career start at first base – and it won’t be his last.

“We’ve been talking about it for about 10 days, should we do, should we not do it,” Riggleman said. “We decided to try it. Why wait until next year? When I approached Jose, he said ‘I can do that.’

“We have 16 games left (counting Saturday), and if Jose plays OK there, then I can see him playing quite a bit there. It gives the chance to look at Luis Valbuena at second, keep Jose in the lineup and still use another player as the designated hitter.”

The move is not permanent, and the Mariners are simply trying to give Lopez and themselves another option heading into what will likely be a very busy offseason.

“We’re looking at all options that might make us a better team,” general manager Lee Pelekoudas said.