Carlos Beltran has played 17 games for the Yankees since returning from the disabled list for bone spurs in his elbow that may require surgery eventually, but they’ve all been at designated hitter and that’s not going to change anytime soon.
Brendan Kuty of the Newark Star Ledger reports that Beltran tweaked his elbow while doing some throwing at Yankee Stadium over the weekend and the 37-year-old has been shut down from throwing for the foreseeable future.
That’s not a huge problem, because the Yankees have standout defenders Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner in center field and left field, and they can use Ichiro Suzuki or Alfonso Soriano in right field. Of bigger concern is that Beltran has hit just .177 with a .585 OPS in 17 games since coming off the DL.
In the first season of a three-year, $45 million deal Beltran has hit .216 with seven homers and a .673 OPS in 50 games overall, which is a 150-point drop in OPS from his 2013 production with the Cardinals.