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Fighting over medical decisions is not new for Beltran

In light of the heavy criticism the Mets medical staff received last year, it's tempting to blame the current dustup over Carlos Beltran's knee surgery on the team and to cast Beltran as the good guy. That's certainly the prevailing thinking in the blogosphere this morning.

Now, we obviously don't know everything that has happened here, but maybe, just maybe, the Mets are entitled to some benefit of the doubt.  Why? Because this is not the first time Beltran has gone rogue on his team's medical staff:

The players' association filed a grievance Friday to block the Kansas City Royals' suspension of AL Rookie of the Year Carlos Beltran.

Beltran was suspended without pay Thursday for refusing to report to the team's Florida training complex for rehabilitation. The Royals said the suspension would last for 30 days or until he reports, whichever is shorter.

Granted, that was when Beltran was with the Royals, and the Royals' medical staff has taken just as much heat as the Mets, so I suppose we still can't know for sure.

Still, I don't know of any other player that has had two high-profile disputes with his team over medical treatment, so we can't really eliminate the possibility that it's Beltran, and not the Mets, that is the problem here.