Carlos Beltran wants to play center field next year and hopes it’s for the Mets, but he admitted yesterday there are no guarantees that either will be the case.
Entering the final year of his contract, owed $18.5 million, and with a new front office running things, Beltran said he would consider waiving his no-trade clause if general manager Sandy Alderson approaches him about it.
“I have to listen,” Beltran said during a conference call, adding that his agent, Scott Boras, would be involved in the discussion. “I know that I have the no-trade clause, but if the team is searching or looking to trade a guy, I have to listen. . . . I want to finish my career with the Mets.”
Alderson will meet with Beltran this weekend in Puerto Rico at a fundraiser for the baseball academy Beltran is opening there in August. Beltran donated $2 million to the high school, which will eventually house 180 students from grades 10-12.
Beltran was resistant to the idea of moving to right field last year when he appeared to struggle at times defensively and isn’t ready to make the switch yet, but admitted it’s not out of the question.
“I just still feel that I can play center field,” Beltran said. “But if the organization has different things in mind, then we have to talk about that. I’m all for doing whatever is good for the team.”
The change would be made to save Beltran’s knee some wear-and-tear, but Beltran isn’t sold that it would make much difference.
“I understand that last year I didn’t play the whole year and all that,” Beltran said. “But I feel in my heart, if I’m healthy, and I go off to spring training healthy, I can play center field like I have done in the past. When you play in the outfield, the pounding is going to be there, if you’re in center field, right field.”
Beltran won’t start training fully until next week, which was his plan when the season ended. And as of now, he has no pain in his surgically repaired right knee as he does bicycle and cardiovascular training.
Still, he won’t pick up a bat until at least next month.
The good news, he said, was that his MRIs look better than they did a year ago and he didn’t have to visit the surgeon who operated on him last year, Dr. Richard Steadman, in Colorado. But Steadman did tell Beltran he should continue to wear a brace.
Beltran also defended himself again against criticism he took after not joining teammates on the trip to Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
“I was having a meeting with the academy,” Beltran said. “I couldn’t make it. Everything that came out in the papers, I feel like that’s not the person I am. I’m all about giving back. I’m all about caring about others. . . . I understand probably some people were mad. Maybe they handled it different by going to the paper instead of coming straight to me as a player.”
And he believes the new direction the Mets are going in gives him the opportunity for a fresh start.
“It has to be that way,” Beltran said. “[Alderson is] going to come in with new ideas, fresh ideas. I don’t know who the manager is going to be, but whoever they pick is going to be a good candidate.”
dan.martin@nypost