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Rangers 'leaning' toward DL stint for Beltre

ARLINGTON -- The Rangers haven't yet decided whether to send third baseman Adrian Beltre to the disabled list because of his strained left quad, but general manager Jon Daniels said before Saturday's game that the club is "leaning that way."
 
The Rangers would love to have Beltre back in the middle of the lineup, but Daniels doesn't want to see the injury magnify into something more serious.
 
"It's a tough thing -- you see a game like last night, you're dying to have his bat in there," Daniels said, referring to the Rangers' 1-0 win Friday, when they failed to score for the first 11 innings and left 16 men on base.
 
"But the last thing we want is for him to grab on it again and he's down for two or three months instead of two or three weeks," Daniels said. "In 2011, that happened, he tried to come back a little early from a hamstring and missed an additional three weeks because of it. That's the last thing we want. We're probably erring on the side of being cautious."
 
Hours before the game, Beltre tested his injured muscle by taking ground balls at third base -- first fielding balls softly tossed to him, then progressing to fungoes hit by manager Ron Washington from in front of the plate.
 
Washington said Beltre also jogged and hit off a tee Saturday, and the plan is to slowly progress with more exercises each day as possible.
 
"Today was a first step, the first time he got a chance to move on it since he came out of the game," Washington said. "We've got to take baby steps. Tomorrow if he comes in here and he's feeling good we'll go through the process and ramp it up a little bit and see how he recovers from that."
 
Beltre left last Tuesday's game in Boston with the injury and hasn't played since; if he is sent retroactively to the 15-day disabled list, he will be eligible to return on April 23.

Beltre is hitting .286 (8-for-28) in eight games this season, with no home runs and four RBIs.

Dave Sessions is a contributor to MLB.com.
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