Yesterday, Mets assistant general manager John Ricci — rather than Omar Minaya, for reasons unclear — met the media to tell them the Mets never gave formal approval for Carlos Beltran’s knee surgery. Beltran says he told Minaya, who “wished him well,” and then went ahead with the surgery, which will keep him out until May, and potentially longer. Right now, Beltran’s angry with the Mets for calling him a liar and the Mets are angry with Beltran for having the surgery without written consent, but there have been no official shots fired yet: We’re in a Mexican standoff. Potentially, the Mets could file a complaint and try to recoup Beltran’s salary for whatever time he might miss beyond May (knee surgery can be a bit taxing, you never know). That would be the nuclear option: We’re not there yet. It’s easy to say, “Oh, those screwed up Mets,” and there does seem to have been a miscommunication involved, but mostly, mocking the team for this seems like piling on. Let’s just hope he’s back soon, and that the Mets call all their players, today, to make sure they’re not being currently operated on, while they speak.