We heard a few days ago that Adrian Beltre “jammed” his surgically repaired right shoulder while diving for a ball.  This caused him to have a “stiff” shoulder for a couple of days.

More details today, courtesy of the News Tribune’s Larry LaRue.  It’s a short post so head over and read it, but basically Beltre’s bone spurs grew back and they are causing more pain than they did last season.  He needs surgery again, but he’s going to play through it for as long as he can.  If he had surgery right now he could probably be back before the end of the season.

Ugh.  This is bad news on several levels.

One, Seattle doesn’t have a full time replacement for Beltre if he has to have surgery or if his performance takes another dive.  Matt Tuiasosopo isn’t an option as he’s missed the entire season with an elbow injury and isn’t expected back anytime soon.  Chris Shelton is Tacoma’s current third baseman and can hit, but he’s a poor defender: no range to any direction, terrible arm-strength, iffy hands.  Mike Morse is right there with Shelton.  Current 25-man reserves Ronny Cedeno and Chris Woodward can handle the position defensively, but aren’t the ideal full time replacements on the offensive side.  Russell Branyan could be shifted to third with Mike Carp taking over at first.  That would improve the lineup but would help the Mariners form the worst defensive infield in baseball.

Two, Beltre’s trade value goes flying out the window.  No one is going to want to give up good talent for a guy that is already perceived as a bad investment who is gutting it out through a painful injury that requires surgery three days ago.

Three, the small window of opportunity for Beltre to earn Type A free agent status has now closed.

The best case scenario at this point might be to have Beltre go into surgery immediately, pick up a young third baseman who can fill the void in the interim and become a candidate to replace Beltre next season, have Beltre available during the stretch run and then getting a compensation round pick after he leaves via free agency.  Re-signing Beltre to a cheaper contract over the offseason can also be mad libbed into the best case scenario in place of the Type B compensation.  I think I could get on board with the Branyan/Carp alignment as well, but a premium defender at shortstop would have to be brought in to help balance things out.