Breaking News: Carlos Beltran to Step Down as New York Mets Manager
It truly has been a crazy couple of days in the baseball world, and one of the more interesting offseasons that the sport has had in a long while.
This is the third announcement of a managerial change this week in baseball, as Carlos Beltran has been confirmed as stepping down from the New York Mets position.
This news comes in the same week as the MLB Investigation into the 2017 Houston Astros concluded and resulted in a 1-Year Suspension onto AJ Hinch and Jeff Luhnow, who were soon afterwards let go by Jim Crane and the Astros organization.
Following soon afterwards, the Boston Red Sox and Alex Cora mutually agreed on a release from that managerial position.
Here are statements from the New York Mets, Carlos Beltran to the Mets, and Carlos Beltran to the MLB.
As with all breaking news, we will update when more information becomes available.
Tweets:
Carlos Beltran has told the Mets it is best if he steps down. Looks like the direction this will take. — Tim Brown (@TBrownYahoo) January 16, 2020
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Mets were in a tough spot, not really of their own doing. But it would have been very difficult starting a new regime with an ethical issue hanging over the manager’s head. This was the only way to go. — Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 16, 2020
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#Mets coach Luis Rojas under consideration for managerial vacancy, sources tell The Athletic. — Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 16, 2020
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#Mets top officials met last night with Beltran. They were trying to find a way to salvage his term. They were unable to find an acceptable path for all. They met again this morning and came to the same conclusion and agreed to agree that Beltran should not manage the team. — Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) January 16, 2020
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Second observation about Carlos Beltran: Manfred painted Alex Cora & Beltran as the masterminds of this scheme. So… How incongruous would it have seemed for Cora to get suspended for 1-2 years…while Beltran got to manage in the same period, free of consequences? — Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) January 16, 2020
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Statements from the New York Mets and Carlos Beltran:
Statement from #Mets COO Jeff Wilpon and Executive Vice President & General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen on Carlos Beltrán. pic.twitter.com/tDSBLczoIA — New York Mets (@Mets) January 16, 2020
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Statement from Carlos Beltrán. pic.twitter.com/gv9NNIzoQd — New York Mets (@Mets) January 16, 2020
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Statement from Carlos Beltran: pic.twitter.com/3YUMdlpagY — Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) January 16, 2020
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Quick Thoughts:
First of all, this is the right move for the New York Mets to make. Even if it is as much of a stereotypical “Mets Move” that could happen. Name me another team that it would make sense for them to have, in the same offseason, hire a high profile manager and former beloved player, have a massive cheating scandal- arranged by him- break, and need to release him the previously given role as manager.
However, this is the move that needed to be made. As mentioned in the tweet from Jon Heyman, there was a big ethical issue hanging over Carlos Beltran and the New York Mets involving what occurred- by Beltran’s own doing- in 2017.
If they didn’t make this move, it would be the easy talking point of all New York sports media, regardless of how well or poorly the Mets did in 2020. If they were good and beat expectations, the media would have a field day speculating to see if Beltran had cheated his way to those improvements. If they were bad and played below expectations, the media could go on to say that the Mets had a great opportunity to have gotten rid of an unproven manager and they “Mets’ed it Up”. (Pun intended)
Final Note:
Carlos Beltran now joins Wally Backman as another MLB Manager who got caught up in scandals during the same offseason that they were hired as a manager, ultimately leading to a combined 0 games of MLB managing between the two of them.
The New York Mets.
(But that job went to Terry Collins instead)
