Beltran Might Be Back Monday, Or July 15

So, it looks like the countdown to Carlos is getting real.  According to Adam Rubin of ESPN NewYork, here, the two dates the Mets are targeting for Beltran's return are July 5th and July 15th.  In his article Rubin goes on to explain that if Carlos will not be available for Monday against the Reds, then it wouldn't be worth activating Carlos for the last series before the all-star break.  The reasoning being that once Carlos gets going, they wouldn't want him to have days off for the break, and might rather have him play through the break and then activate him on the 15th instead.

I can't deny the logic there.  It makes sense to keep Carlos playing and active.  Although I would love to have him up by Monday, if he needs a little more time then July 15th sounds great to me.  It would be a nice boost for the team to have Carlos back before the break, and it will certainly create an interesting outfield scenario for the Mets as the trade deadline approaches.  It'll be interesting to see what happens to Angel Pagan and Jeff Francoeur's playing time once Beltran returns. 

But having too many good outfielders is a nice problem to have, especially when one of them is a healthy Carlos Beltran...