Carlos Beltran released a statement tonight. It went like this, according to Matt at MetsBlog:

“I am totally surprised by the reaction to my recent knee surgery.  Any accusations that I ignored or defied the team’s wishes are simply false.  I also spoke to Omar Minaya about the surgery on Tuesday.  He did not ask me to wait, or to get another doctor’s opinion.  He just wished me well. No one from team raised any issue until Wednesday, after I was already in surgery.  I do not know what else I could have done. The most important thing here is that the surgery was a total success and I expect to be back on the field playing the game I love sooner rather than later.”

So Beltran called Omar on Tuesday, and Omar wished him well in surgery? Joel Sherman reports the same thing. Then why was John Ricco on the conference call today acting like the Mets had no idea he was going under the knife?

I’m done even trying to figure this one out. I’m guessing the root of the problem is a massive breakdown in communication once again.

OK, so the conference call is over. If you missed it, it featured a whole lot of Mets’ assistant GM John Ricco dancing around questions for legal reasons, but the most interesting tidbit of information gleaned was that, essentially, the high ranking members of the Mets’ front office didn’t know Carlos Beltran was having surgery until after he was having surgery.

Ricco stressed numerous times the Mets’ current issue with Beltran stemmed from the team’s desire to be “afforded the right” to seek a third opinion on his knee before he resorted to an operation that could jeopardize the start of his season.

But Beltran, presumably with the guidance of his agent Scott Boras, opted to undergo surgery without first consulting his team.

And that’s, well, it certainly falls under the general umbrella of “not cool.” They’re paying him a whole lot of money to play center field and hit home runs, and that probably buys them the right to understand how he is thinking and to know when he’s about to go under the knife.

Still, it’s impossible to entirely fault Beltran, given the way things went for the Mets in 2009.

Ricco urged reporters to view the team’s injuries on “a case-by-case basis,” but since the problems were epidemic last season, one can understand Beltran’s impatience. Especially since he was already in Colorado with the knee specialist, and especially since the third opinion and the internal discussions and all the red tape that went along with that would probably mean tacking on another month before he could play again.

Ken Davidoff asked the best question of the call, in my opinion, wondering why the Mets would opt to make their grievance with Beltran public. Ricco ably answered that the team wanted to be honest, and that they were disappointed in their player and at how the process broke down.

In truth, it seems as though the Mets were a bit blindsided. That’s bad in isolation, but it’s downright terrible if they’ve fostered some sort of environment wherein players do not trust the intentions of or yield to the expectations of their team’s front office.

Of course, I don’t know that’s the case. Maybe Beltran is just one player gone rogue, and the Mets are only reacting accordingly. But maybe he only grew frustrated with a bureaucracy that seems to have failed him and his teammates again and again, and took matters into his own hands because he felt it was the swiftest way to get himself healthy and back on the field to help his team.

I have no idea what happened with Carlos Beltran’s knee surgery other than that something sketchy is afoot. That much is almost certain.

I’ll resist weighing in until we have more details, but it strikes me as entertaining that the situation has given people all over the Internet more fodder to argue the same points they’ve always argued about Beltran.

Those that like Beltran point out that opting for surgery was a smart move; he understands his body and was making the decision that was in his best interest to get himself back on the field at full-strength so he could help his team win, and that clearly he’s right, and anyway, who would trust the Mets’ medical staff at this point?

Those that don’t like Beltran say it’s another example of a me-first whiner who only cares about his paycheck and his stats turning his back on the team, and besides, he struck out looking that one time.

I guess we’ll find out more on the 2 p.m. conference call with John Ricco.

Hat tip to SNY’s Sam Pepper and The Big Lead for pointing me to this bit of fantastic strangeness: