Carlos Beltran is drawn into the Houston Astros sign-stealing fiasco. MLB has some hard questions to ask him and this is no time to play around…
Carlos Beltran has gone on record, saying he believes there is cheating in baseball – and then there is CHEATING.
In another setting at another time, many of us might say, so what? Who cares? Tell us who your leadoff hitter is going to be in 2020. Not now, though.
First, let’s clarify that none of the Astros cheating allegations have anything (directly) to do with the New York Mets.
Sure, one can ask if Brodie Van Wagenen and his staff ventured to ask Beltran during the interview process – “Carlos, do you know anything about the rumors circulating about the Astros misuse of technology?” Mmm…probably not, why go there? But…
Carlos Beltran was a member of the Houston Astros in 2017, his final year as a player before retiring when the first salvos were fired about the Astros stealing signs.
The method was and still is unique and compelling. An illegal camera in center field relayed the catcher’s signals to a monitor in proximity to the Astro’s dugout.
When the oncoming pitch was determined to be a breaking ball, “someone” banged on a tin garbage pail, alerting the batter awaiting the pitch.
Carlos Beltran on cheating…
At this point, Beltran has no comments on these specifics. But he does have something to say about the subject of “cheating”:
Which leads to a hypothetical question – what would you think of a little league coach telling your son or daughter the same thing?
“Small details,” Carlos Beltran calls them. It’s like a person on the witness stand telling the truth – but not the whole truth – because you didn’t ask me that question. Or, does Beltran saying he believes telling a fib is not the same as a lie? White lies, half-truths…
The Mets don’t need any of this. Three managers – Joey Cora (Red Sox), AJ. Hinch (Astros), and Beltran are scheduled to appear before Major League Baseball investigators today to answer one question. What (if anything) did you know and when did you know it?
Suspensions and fines hang in the balance. The Mets don’t even have a bench coach to perform interim managerial duties if Beltran is suspended for X number of games to begin the 2020 season.
Beltran: Get this BEHIND the Mets – now!
This is nothing to fool around with. MLB has a black eye reminiscent of the 1919 Chicago White Sox and the “Say it ain’t so, Joe” players who threw the World Series. MLB will not let this go, because they can’t afford to play with the integrity of the game.
What is not to cast aspersions and allegations addressed to Carlos Beltran. But it is to suggest the best thing you can do for your new employer is (if warranted), to come clean.
No stonewalling, no fudging, whatever happened – happened.
It should be evident to anyone this was (and perhaps still is) the Culture of the Houston Astros. Carlos Beltran was there, and it shouldn’t be surprising if he succumbed to their concept of “team” at the time.
But more significantly, Carlos Beltran owes the Mets and their fans the assurance that was then (their culture), and this is now (my culture). And the two have nothing in common…
You can believe it or not – but this is what’s “out there”…
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
