Nuts! Mariners’ Beltre shelved due to testicle injury

The Mariners revealed Thursday that Adrian Beltre could be lost for the rest of the season with a damaged testicle, the result of a bad-hop grounder during Wednesday’s game. Beltre, who does not wear a cup, suffered tearing of the testicle and apparently some internal bleeding. Surgery would cost him a month and perhaps end his season. If he can go without surgery, perhaps a minimum 15-day DL stint will suffice. With Beltre on the shelf again, the Mariners will have to go back to Jack Hannahan at third base. It looked like Hannahan would be starting for a few days anyway, since Jack Wilson injured his hamstring last night. But now it appears that Josh Wilson will be called up to fill in there. There was a slight chance that Beltre could have been traded before the end of the month, but that seems gone now. In 2004, Beltre parlayed a career year into a five-year, $65 million deal with the Mariners. He’s now set to become a free agent again, but he’ll be coming off his worst year as a major leaguer this time.