PORT ST. LUCIE — Carlos Beltran was moved from center field to right. He did not play in the first week of spring games at all, was installed yesterday as the DH in his exhibition debut and is not expected to play defense until late this month.
It all had been a measured, thoughtful way to approach a vital, veteran player trying to preserve and build up Namath-esque knees. The Mets had essentially put Beltran in bubble wrap.
And then in a “what the heck were they thinking” moment — after all that extra care — the Mets did the equivalent of pulling Beltran from the bubble wrap and exposing him to a sledgehammer.
Chip Hale had the technically proper approach as a third-base coach in the second inning yesterday. There were two outs. He noticed his runner at second was getting a good secondary lead. He saw Daniel Murphy hit a single that did not go directly in a hard line to right fielder Josh Reddick. And so he waved the runner from second home.
Except the runner was Beltran. It was March 6. The game was so important the Red Sox shunned the major-league rule to bring four starters on the road and brought just one. So the run was meaningless, but the runner was not.
From the bench, manager Terry Collins had an uh-oh feeling. And about two hours after the game, Collins would admit privately, “That is my fault — I probably should have been adamant about [having a red light for Beltran, regardless of the situation].”
This had only-the-Mets potential: Beltran on base for the first time all year, at a point where he had yet to even practice a slide. And with a good throw, there was going to be a bang-bang play at the plate — or worse.
Hale said, “The last thing I want to do with any runner in spring is get them into a collision.”
Fortunately for all the actors in this potentially tragic play, Reddick’s throw was heading up the line and so it was cut. Still, Beltran, running at what he called “80 percent,” felt compelled to slide.
He arose without problem, so the Mets exhaled. Look, there is no mystery here. The Mets need 500-plus plate appearances from Beltran.
That is so crucial that he probably should not be exposed to potential home-plate collisions on April 6 or May 6. But on March 6, it should have been a no-brainer. Treat Carlos Beltran like a China Doll.
He has had three knee surgeries since October 2007; two on his particularly troublesome right knee. He has played in just 144 games the past two seasons, and hardly looked like his prime self when doing so. He does not turn 34 until next month, but his knees play older.
Even Beltran admits there are crankier days than others, and he concedes it is “almost impossible” to believe he could move and feel like he did even just a few years ago.
Still, he insists, “I feel confident” about being a high-end player and mastering right field. And the Mets’ delicate mosaic on being a good team in 2011 probably requires those things from Beltran.
The Mets need a lot of iffy pieces to fit just right, such as Jose Reyes and Jason Bay healthy and flourishing; Chris Capuano and Chris Young providing 50-plus starts of at least competence; and a solid bullpen emerging from the current cast of Relievers Anonymous.
But near the top of any must-have list for the Mets is having Beltran able to play right four to five days a week and being a cleanup-hitting force. If he is, at best, the Mets contend and, at worst, they turn Beltran into a prospect or two at the trade deadline.
That is why Collins called yesterday “a huge first step” as Beltran went 1-for-3, lining a single to right in his first at-bat. And steps are what it is about, right now, for Beltran, tiny ones into the games as a DH, ultimately into the field, and toward the season opener and beyond.
The steps that can certainly be eliminated are any that put Beltran in danger on the bases in March.
joel.sherman@nypost.com