Mets Are The Last Organization Which Should Fire Carlos Beltran
Major League Baseball had concluded its investigation, and they have levied their penalties against the Houston Astros. This has led to the firing of AJ Hinch, and based upon what was contained in Major League Baseball’s report, it is safe to assume that not only is Alex Cora is eventually going to be handed his own severe punishment, but his days as the manager of the Boston Red Sox are likely over.
That leaves Carlos Beltran as the only current Major League manager named in the report who has not faced nor will face any discipline.
The reason behind Beltran not facing any discipline was Major League Baseball going out of its way to not suspend any of the players caught in the sign stealing scandal. In 2017, Beltran was a player, which means he is not subject to discipline.
Despite that, there has been a push for the Mets to fire their new manager. Chris Carlin attempted to conjure up Beltran being part of both a conspiracy and cover-up on his ESPN Radio program. It is also being discussed all over WFAN with Boomer and Gio as well as Moose and Maggie making it topics for discussion. On that point, like Carlin, Boomer said the Mets should fire Beltran.
While the topic certainly is going to drive ratings and discussions, at the end of the day, you really have to wonder why exactly the Mets should fire Beltran.
Right off the bat, you could say it is going to be a distraction. It’s a fair point as it is going to be a topic for discussion during Spring Training when Beltran meets with the press. However, that’s really only going to be it.
Remember, one of the purported reasons not to sign Jose Reyes was his domestic violence was going to be a distraction. It was for maybe a week or two. Beyond that, Citi Field was alive with Jose chants, reporters wrote articles advocating for him to be signed and to receive more playing time, and at the end of the day, he was nominated for the Marvin Miller Award.
Keep in mind this story will die quickly. In terms of Mets Spring Training, this scandal is going to die very quickly as the Mets have Yoenis Cespedes return and Jed Lowrie‘s health to cover amongst the myriad of issues which always arise in St. Lucie during February and March.
Of course, there’s an ethical issue to discuss. After all, cheating in sports (and life) has always been viewed distasteful, and an organization should not be led by an individual who is so willing to skirt the rules to their own benefit.
On that higher moral note, Jeff Wilpon has his own history of distasteful conduct including firing an unwed pregnant woman. The Mets eventual new owner, Steve Cohen, paid a $1.2 billion fine, the largest fine ever levied, for insider trading.
Like it or not, the Mets have not shown any had any sort of an ethical litmus test for their ownership, front office, or players. It would now be bizarre to hold their manager up to some standard not present anywhere else in the organization.
Beyond that, no one is quite sure what Beltran even did. Major League Baseball‘s report stated, “a group of players, including Carlos Beltrán, discussed that the team could improve on decoding opposing teams’ signs and communicating the signs to the batter.” It then said Cora devised the system and had the players execute it.
Be careful of what it did and did not say. It said Beltran discussed better decoding and communication. It did not say he was responsible for the illegal technological set-up, nor did it specifically name him as one of the players relaying messages. It’s possible he had a hand in all of it, but he was not specifically named for anything other than wanting a better system.
When it was the New York Giants with Bobby Thompson, it was the “Shot Heard Round the World.” With the Astros, it’s now being treated as the biggest scandal in Major League history this side of the Black Sox.
It is a slippery slope when you penalize and fire people for what you think they did. Honestly, many assume the worse with Beltran, but those assumptions are not present in the report. If you are going to take the position his even being a part of it is enough to want him gone from the team, the same is then true for J.D. Davis and Jake Marisnick, each of whom were members of the 2017 and 2018 Houston Astros teams.
Overall, Beltran was part of a team who cheated and won a World Series. After that, he was a member of the New York Yankees front office as an advisor to Brian Cashman. Knowing Major League Baseball was conducting this investigation and fully knowing Beltran may be implicated in that investigation, the New York Mets hired him to be their manager.
While some may want to trump up the report to be more than it was, fact is the Mets hired Beltran with their eyes fully opened. When they did hire him, Brodie Van Wagenen said, “”
That is why he is the Mets manager, and even after the investigation all of this remains true. As a result, Carlos Beltran should remain as the Mets manager until he proves unfit for the job, or until he is further implicated as being anything other than a player who wanted to find a better way to steal signs.
Thank you for being the voice of reason. Beltran was a player and not part of tor responsible for the decision making process. If he told the Astros how and where to buy something illegal and they go and do it, he hasn’t committed a crime, they did. It’s the same thing here.
Additionally, MLB says he told them the truth. Do you think he told the investigators one thing and the Mets another? Like they wouldn’t find out later? Come on, honestly, I’ve seen this “theory ” advanced in a few places, talk about shoddy journalism. To insinuate that he may have lied when no one could possibly know what he said is just fake news at its worst. And anyone advancing it is a liar.
Viva Carlos Beltran one of the people who is responsible for creating the jobs these shameless self promoters dont deserve. They are vultures and charlatans. And their BS will only make the fans like him more.
You’re right. I think the fans will have his back all the more.
I think the Post is upset he lied to them. I love those guys, especially Davidoff, but Beltran is not required to tell them the truth.
KD published a piece in the Post last night talking about how the Mets need to have a presser where Beltran comes clean. That says to me that he thinks this will blow over. But they, The Post, want a mea culpa. I’m not sure how I feel about their stance but writers like Davidoff and Sherman do matter as they have the audience to drive the debate. Better they dont hate you. They have a pen and a phone a actually know how to use both.
Let’s have a press conference, get this over with and move on. Carlos Beltran has been in the public eye for over 2 decades and has conducted himself with class and dignity. I’d be surprised if he told MLB one thing and the Mets another. This is not the FBI he knew the Mets would find out through MLB and the Mets, as Mike
Francesa pointed out, knew from the start that it was highly unlikely Beltran as a player, would be found culpable.
Good theater but it’s a nothing burger.
For the moment I’m more interested in (and nauseated by) Donaldson reportedly getting 4/92m than I am by Beltran’s and the Astros’ behavior.
The AAV for Donaldson, a 6 win player, is more than what the Mets paid for dross in the pen and rotation–and that’s with Porcello-equivalents like Ivan Nova going for 1/$1.5m.
So add Nova and Donaldson, and with 3B well-occupied move McNeil to LF, and now the Mets can package JD Davis and Dom along with Lowrie and free up at least 10m in salary. So, hypothetical GM, make it Donaldson, Nova, and go get Betances and Wacha all over again if you can’t help yourself.
Better, forget Marisnick and his 3m (and two useful minor leaguers), forget Betances, and for the available money add Donaldson and Cole Hamels for what the Mets paid out including the 10m freed up by packaging Davis and Dom with Lowrie (said package which probably gets you more than just relief from Lowrie’s 10m salary). Imagine Donaldson and Hamels instead of… the worst starter in the majors last year, a reliever who had one appearance last year, a backup OFer, and Wacha. And you can probably afford Wacha or Marisnick in all that in addition to Donaldson and Hamels, since there’s about $41m floating around.
There’s no FO even close to the Three Stooges. These guys really have some sort of meaningless checklist they can’t deviate from: 5th starter, backup OFer, iffy swingman, complete gamble instead of Wills Smith or Harris… Actually, the Mets could have picked up the last two for about what they’ll be paying for Wacha, Marisnick, and Betances. Oops! Amazing.
It’s very clear BVW doesn’t know what he’s doing, and he’s working for people who really don’t know what they’re doing.
Game it out and it’s excruciating. Compare the following with what the Mets are going into the season with. You can even make it better (or worse) by dealing Dom and the appropriate prospect with Lowrie and his salary, keeping Davis in LF, and sub McNeil at 2B for Cano. They could start the year with this lineup
Nimmo cf obp .387
McNeil 2b obp .383
Alonso 1b 53 HR
Donaldson 3b 37 HR
Conforto rf 33 HR
JD Davis lf 22HR / 453 PA
Ramos c
Rosario ss
The rotation:
deGrom
Syndergaard
Stroman
Cole Hamels
Matz
—It’s not difficult to imagine the first 7 hitters in the lineup with OBPs over .360 and a combined SLG over .500. And your 4th starter is Cole Hamels. That’s betting a lot on front line talent and on Diaz and Familia being respectable, but it’s a good way to bet. The lineup and rotation are 13 players who might well put up 48 WAR.
I’m not sure there’s much of an argument for adding Porcello, Wacha, Betances, and Marisnick instead. Those four probably improve the Mets chances of not being worse than an 82-84 win team, but they don’t do much for adding to wins over 87, the wins that dramatically increase your chances of reaching the postseason. Adding Wacha helps you not give starts to Corey Oswalt, but if one of the first four starters gets hurt, your chances of reaching the postseason are already poor. Adding Marisnick helps you not give starts in CF to Gomez or Altherr, but if Nimmo misses a lot of the season, your chances of reaching the postseason have again taken a real hit.
If your aim is the postseason, adding depth is only meaningful if you can withstand a couple of major injuries and still get there because you’ve got the cushion of players like Wacha and Marisnick–but if the Mets as constructed have say Stroman and Nimmo out for a lot of the season, they’re not getting there anyway. Shrug.