UPDATE (1:35 p.m. ET): The Mets and Carlos Beltran issued the following statements.
Statement from Carlos Beltrán. pic.twitter.com/gv9NNIzoQd
— New York Mets (@Mets) January 16, 2020
ORIGINAL STORY: It might already be the middle of January, but three Major League Baseball teams are now in need of a new manager.
New York Mets manager Carlos Beltran is stepping down amid fallout from his alleged role in the Houston Astros’ 2017 cheating scandal, according to multiple reports. Yahoo’s Tim Brown was the first to report it might happen, and Ken Rosenthal reported the departure, citing sources. Beltran is leaving his post without ever having managed a game.
The Mets join the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox in the search for a new manager just a month before spring training begins. The Astros fired AJ Hinch on Monday after MLB released its report on an investigation into the Astros’ illegal sign-stealing operations. The Red Sox on Tuesday mutually parted ways with manager Alex Cora after he was named numerous times in the Astros’ report for his role as Houston’s bench coach.
Beltran played for the Astros in 2017, appearing in 129 regular-season games on the way to Houston winning the World Series. The outfielder was the only then-player mentioned in MLB commissioner Rob Manfred’s report released earlier this week.
“Approximately two months into the 2017 season, a group of players, including Carlos Beltran, discussed that the team could improve on decoding opposing teams’ signs and communicating the signs to the batter,” Manfred wrote. “Cora arranged for a video room technician to install a monitor displaying the center field camera feed immediately outside of the Astros’ dugout.”
The New York Yankees hired Beltran as a special adviser to the general manager prior to the 2019 season before the Mets hired him as manager in November.
