How do you know the conversation didn’t go something like this?

Niese: “Man, I got really winded out there during practice. I wasn’t even really running that much!”

Beltran: “Wow, that’s weird.”

Niese: “My old doctor said that I have an internally constricted septum. They could do a procedure to fix it, but I don’t really know if it’d make much of a difference. Rey Ramirez told me in order to do the operation, they need to sedate me and drill a hole in my carotid artery to get into my nasal passage, so I don’t know if I’m going to do it.”

Beltran: “Hey, if it’s true, you should do it. Last year, my knees were hurting, and I finally got the surgery done, and it made a world of difference.”

Niese: “Yeah, I don’t know. What will people say, and-”

Beltran: “You know what, kid? Do it. Who cares what other people say about you? God knows, I block it all out.”

Niese: “Heh, yeah, that’s true.”

Beltran: “Here’s even more incentive. Do it, and I’ll pay for it. So, it won’t even cost you a thing. Here’s the card of the doctors I went to, they’re good, if they can’t do it themselves, they know people…”

Niese: “Thanks, Carlos. I’ll think about it. I don’t know man, but I’ll think about it.”

Beltran: “That’s all you gotta do. Think about it.”

So why assume he was making fun of him?