Operation, Not Opener, for Beltre

The Dodgers learned Thursday that third baseman Adrian Beltre must undergo abdominal surgery for the second time in two months, sidelining him indefinitely with less than a month to go before opening day.

Beltre is scheduled to return to Los Angeles today and have a wound on his large intestine closed Monday at Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood.

Team medical personnel said that the opening formed as the result of an infection occurring after Beltre had an emergency appendectomy Jan. 12 in the Dominican Republic.

Dodger physician Michael Mellman said Beltre would be hospitalized at least a week after surgery and “not be available for opening day, that’s a certainty.” His return depends on the extent of intestinal damage.

“What we can say is Adrian is going to have surgery,” Mellman said. “He will be better after the surgery, and he will return to play baseball when he’s healed.”

With Dave Hansen also beginning the season on the disabled list because of a broken bone in his left hand, General Manager Kevin Malone is scrambling to provide Manager Jim Tracy with options at third.

Malone on Tuesday signed former Baltimore Oriole third baseman Mark Lewis to a minor league contract, having decided that Chris Donnels and nonroster players Tim Bogar and Jeff Reboulet might not provide the answer.

In 71 games with the Orioles last season, Lewis, a former first-round draft choice of the Cleveland Indians, batted .270 with two home runs and 21 runs batted in.

Beltre batted .290 last season--.331 after the All-Star break--with 20 homers, 30 doubles and 85 RBIs.

Malone might also trade reliever Antonio Osuna and pitching prospect Mike Judd for infield help, but the Dodgers acknowledge they need Beltre.

“I’ve always been optimistic, but I always thought this was a possibility,” Malone said. “I was hoping that wouldn’t be the case, but I knew all along this could become a reality.”

The situation is the latest in a series of blows the Dodgers have absorbed in spring training, stirring frustration from Dodgertown to Chavez Ravine.

Gary Sheffield’s trade demand has cast a shadow over the club, and other key players are injured. But Beltre’s health is the top priority.

“I cannot tell you, how can I say this, I cannot give you my feelings on how bad I was feeling the last couple of months,” Beltre said. “It’s been difficult, no doubt.

“I thought I was going to have a shot to play opening day, even with the [drainage] bag on. Hopefully, this is going to be over soon.”

Mellman said surgeon Bob Shorr will remove the “diseased or damaged area” of the the large intestine in a procedure that varies in length depending on “exactly what the surgeon will encounter” once the section is opened.

Despite the optimism of team officials, Beltre has been expected to start the season on the disabled list.

The Dodgers finally acknowledged he will but said his long-term status is still undetermined.

“The thing that gets in the way of [determining] that is just the unknown of the surgery,” Mellman said. “As bad as you guys [reporters] want to have a number is as resistant as I am to give it, only because it is unknown at this time.

“If you’re asking me, ‘Do I think Adrian will play baseball this year?’--the answer is unequivocally yes. We’ll be a lot smarter within a few days after the surgery.”

On Jan. 10, Beltre went to a hospital complaining of stomach pain, was sent home and his appendix ruptured two days later.

He spent the next three weeks in the Dominican Republic and lost 24 pounds as physicians tried to diagnose and treat the infection.

After consulting with Scott Boras, Beltre’s agent, Chairman Bob Daly made arrangements for Beltre to return to Los Angeles and be monitored at Centinela Hospital.

Beltre reported to spring training Feb. 14 to work with physical therapist Pat Screnar, and the Dodgers believed that the opening would close.

The Dodgers said Beltre, who has regained 14 pounds, had made sporadic progress, but he was still on a liquid diet and his drainage increased this week.

The bag attached to his abdomen contained enough fluid Thursday to almost fill a 12-ounce cup.

Boras had read and heard enough.

He traveled to Dodgertown on Wednesday to speak with Malone and Mellman, and they agreed that Beltre should have surgery.

“It had gotten to a point where Adrian is not doing a lot of things he normally does--like eating,” Boras said. “When we had a 15-minute conversation about a piece of macaroni, I knew we had reached a point where Adrian’s life patterns are really being interrupted.

“Frankly, the amount of fluid has really increased the last couple of days. It was a collective decision on everyone’s part what was best. I don’t think there was a question. Everyone felt surgery was the course to be taken at this point. The fact is, for the first three or four weeks of the season, I’m sure you’d like to have him. But you’d rather Adrian be at 100% for 4 1/2, five months.

“I mean, in the end it’s going to be his choice. But we went through the options and I said, ‘You know, when you’re thinking about this, the game is tough enough to play when you’re [healthy].’ The question is are you really going to be able to do the things you customarily do, and do that without worry, without focusing on this?”

Beltre wants to focus on baseball as soon as possible.

“The last two years, I’ve been kind of the issue of spring training,” said Beltre, in contract negotiations with the Dodgers last spring. “I don’t think, I hope, I won’t have another spring training like this.”

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