Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran will see their first spring training action against the Red Sox this afternoon. The game will be at Tradition Field in PSL, airing on SNY at 1:00pm. Mets fans will be happy to see two big pieces of the Mets line-up finally take the field this spring, but there are of course still causes for concern on the part of Delgado.

The Mets front office must be concerned about how much Delgado's hip problem will impact his offensive production. My biggest worry is that if the pain becomes too great, Carlos will begin to change his swing mechanics to avoid aggravating the injury, which can't possibly help the Mets. You wonder why Carlos can't catch up to fastballs up and in? It's a bit difficult to swivel on a painful hip. What, if any, is Omar Minaya's back-up plan should Carlos be unable to carry his share of the offensive load? Will we see Willie Randolph push Carlos down in the order? With Alou out, what kind of protection will the Mets have to bat behind Delgado? Lots of questions, not too many readily available answers. If the Mets want to win now, Omar should be (and probably is) considering all possible options to pick up the possible offensive slack from Delgado. That does not, in any way mean that the Mets should get Sammy Sosa, or God forbid, Barroid. Forget it.

Beltran on the other hand, will benefit greatly from his off-season surgery, assuming he doesn't re-injure anything in the next month. Mets fans need to think about the defensive plays Beltran made last year on bum knees that he eventually had surgery on, plus what he did for the Mets offensively in '07 (.276, .353, .525, .878, 33 HR, 112 RBI, 33 2B, 93 RS, 23 SB, 69 BB in 554 ABs). 33 dingers and 112 RBIs and he had surgery on both knees when the season ended. The guy played through pain and still gave us an excellent season.

"Beltran's legs, and specifically his quadriceps, were so weakened by the matching pair of operations that he's had to build them up again from practically zero. Now that Beltran is getting stronger, the task becomes a little more complicated." (Newsday.com)

Beltran began running the bases just 8 days ago on March 2nd and is taking his everyday spot in centerfield today. If anyone questions this guys heart, will and talent, they might consider finding another team to root for. Carlos not only doesn't deserve finicky Mets fans booing him if he goes into a slump, he should get a standing O every time he steps to the plate. This isn't Carlos Baerga here people. Has anyone heard the type of whining, complaining and finger-pointing from Beltran that we typically hear from the Bronx, especially when things aren't going well? I think not. Comparing Beltran's contributions to Delgado's, one could make the argument that Beltran is a much more important cog in the Mets offense and defense than Delgado is. Not only does Beltran affect the every day line-up, we're looking at one of the premier centerfielders in baseball. How many runs is Beltran worth if you add saved runs to his offensive run producing totals? We have an '06 and '07 Silver Slugger Award and Gold Glove winner patrolling centerfield at Shea. Show some love people.

Carlos has hit .298, .320, & .270 with RISP over the past three seasons (much worse with RISP and 2 out in '05 & '07, .224, as opposed to .310 in '06). When healthy, this guy will carry the Mets. When he's not, he's still better than 90% of centerfielders in baseball. Carlos easily makes the top 10 list of all MLB outfielders and has got to be in the top 3 outfielders in the National League; Matt Holliday, Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Beltran, with Andruw Jones right there, assuming Jones' production doesn't continue to fall...and Holliday and Soriano don't even play in the same league as Beltran defensively.

If he leaves when his contract is up or when he retires as a Met (hopefully), we're going to be comparing the next Mets centerfielder(s) to Carlos Beltran. Maybe, as with artists, Beltran's worth and talent won't be appreciated until he's gone, which will be a sad commentary on how Mets fans have treated Beltran during his stay in NY. He deserves better.

In case any of you eternal pessimists out there want to hang your hat on Beltran being frozen at the dish by a 3-2 curveball with the bases loaded and 2 out in Game 7 of the '06 NLCS, get over it. I have...mostly.

Update (1:14pm): Carlos Beltran will be DHing today, not playing centerfield. He's still the man.