Carlos Beltran finally has elbow surgery

According to a team release, Carlos Beltran has finally undergone the elbow surgery he has needed for a majority of the season:

Earlier today at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Carlos Beltran underwent surgery to remove loose pieces and a bone spur from his right elbow. The surgery was performed by Yankees Head Team Physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad. Beltran can begin throwing and hitting in approximately six weeks and can begin playing in approximately 12 weeks.

This means that Beltran can begin baseball activities in the middle of November, and will be ready to return to the field sometime around Christmas. He'll then have over a month before he reports to spring training. It sounds like he'll have enough time to be ready for next season, but he's definitely cutting it close. If it were up to me, I probably would have had him get the surgery sometime earlier in September, just to ensure that he had enough time. Mark Teixeira said he had trouble staying healthy because he didn't have a full offseason to prepare after his wrist surgery. We can only hope that Beltran will be different.

Either way, it's nice to know that this has finally be taken care of and hopefully is behind him. The injury didn't seem to hurt his swing, but it did limit his value since he was incapable of playing right field for much of the season. It would be nice to see him rebound in 2015 because the Yankees will certainly need him to be healthy and effective over his last two years under contract if they want the signing to look like anything other than a disaster. A better Carlos Beltran could be essential if the team wants to make the playoffs again.