Carlos Beltran addressed his situation in Port St. Lucie.

He said the left knee tendinitis is from "compensating, being able to start running here and compensating."

Said Beltran: The left one I have a little tendinitis, so I want to make sure now that I have tendinitis in this one, I don't want to compensate into the one that I really have to protect. I let the trainers know, and the doctor decided to put me on anti-inflammatories for a week and then shut down some of the work I've been doing outside, the high-impact. Heating is OK, cardio on the bike, the pool, it's not like I'm not going to do anything. I'm going to continue to work and try to put myself in shape, but the field things, it's going to be off [for] a little bit.”

Asked when he started feeling the issue, Beltran said: “I started feeling it when I first started running here, the first couple days of spring training. I felt like I was compensating, and it got worse, worse, worse, to the point where now I have to make sure it doesn't get worse than that.”

Did Sunday's game make it worse?

“No. It's been like that before that.”

In the offseason, did you do enough work on the left leg?

“Equal. We focused more on the right one, but everything I did in the right, I did in the left also.”

Will you have enough time to get ready for Opening Day?

“My goal right now, I know spring training is important to get the timing and get a lot of things going on, but for me, it's more important [to be ready for] the season. I want to be ready for the season. I know I'm probably not going to have the same spring everyone will have, but I feel confident I had a good offseason. I put in a lot of work in the offseason that I didn't put in last year, so that will come. We will take our time, but my key right now is to make sure I am ready for the season.”

You had work done on the left knee a while back?

“That was in 2007. Actually, it's a different area. It's a little bit to the side. [The surgery was] right in the middle.”

Did you try to compensate?

“It happens that way, I guess because I am protecting [the right] one so much, landing more on my left side, but things like that happen.”

He said he did the same thing in 2007, and it went back in forth between both knees.

“If I am good to go and it doesn't bother me, I would love to play in the outfield. I would love to leave spring training playing the outfield some games. I need to get used to that too. My right one feels great. I have no complaints, and actually I'm not even icing my right one. I've been icing my left one since we started the running program.”

Does it concern you this might just be life for you now as a baseball player?

“It could, but what can I do about it? There's nothing I can do about it. I have to deal with the situation.”