PORT ST. LUCIE — He isn’t the longest-tenured Met, even as he enters Year 7: David Wright beat Carlos Beltran here, and so did Jose Reyes. But it was Beltran’s arrival in 2005 that was supposed to signal something: a changed culture in Flushing, a fresh set of expectations for the Mets.
Six years into that seven-year deal, Beltran has seen every angle of baseball in New York, every side and flip side that playing here can invite. He has been a bust and an MVP candidate. He has been the most popular jersey and the most popular target. He has played breathtaking baseball when healthy, and seen whole stretches of his prime wasted to injury.
He was there the night old Shea Stadium nearly crumbled at its foundation, Game 7 against the Cardinals, Endy Chavez making a catch for the ages and 55,000 people caught up in borderline-religious zeal; of course, he was also there at the very end of that night, staring at an unhittable nose-to-knees curveball from Adam Wainwright, and for all the worsening denouments that have come after.
“It’s been great, man. It’s been great,” Beltran said yesterday after officially reporting for what is almost certain to be his last spring training as a Met. “It’s been a lot of ups and downs. It’s been a learning experience for me. But it’s been great. It’s been the experience of a lifetime.”
A month ago, in the middle of an offseason in which he tried to strengthen the muscles around his troublesome knee in an effort to show he still has life left in his career, Beltran found himself in a reflective mood, talking to his wife.
“I can’t believe it’s been seven years,” he said.
“Time flies,” she agreed.
And it has. The six years since Beltran’s arrival in 2005 haven’t exactly gone according to plan. There was supposed to be more than one postseason appearance in there, more than one playoff victory, and a lot fewer times when you wondered if Beltran ever were going to sneak back in the lineup again.
In his last go-round, he arrives with a bandage around his knee and a determination to keep playing for “four or five years” after this one. He met with manager Terry Collins and general manager Sandy Alderson yesterday, talked earnestly about how “this is all about what’s best for the team, not for me,” and will begin a running program today that, in a week and a half or so, should determine if he still will roam center field at Citi Field or start learning how to play right.
It’s no small matter for the Mets, because it’s no coincidence that the last two years have been disasters and Beltran has missed most of both seasons. If healthy, he remains what he was when he arrived in 2005: as accomplished an all-around player as the Mets have ever had. Now, he gets one more chance to leave the people wanting more.
Instead of merely wanting.
michael.vaccaro@nypost.com