Carlos Beltran is officially stepping down as New York Mets Manager. The Mets have officially issued a statement on the matter:
We met with Carlos last night and again this morning and agreed to mutually part ways. This was not an easy decision. Considering the circumstances, it became clear to all parties that it was not in anyone’s best interest for Carlos to move forward as Manager of the New York Mets. We believe that Carlos was honest and forthcoming with us. We are confident that this will not be the final chapter in his baseball career. We remain excited about the talent on this team and are committed to reaching our goals of winning now and in the future.
The fallout from the Houston Astros illicit sign-stealing scandal continues to leave more bodies in its wake, with New York Mets manager Carlos Beltran perhaps its latest casualty. Days after Astros Manager AJ Hinch and Red Sox Manager Alex Cora were killed off from their high profile jobs in succession, an alleged niece of Beltran, a member of the 2017 World Series champion Astros team, tweeted ‘My Tio Carlos is stepping down as Mets manager’ with a sad face emoji.
The now private account even has ‘My Favorite Uncle @CarlosBeltran15’ in her Twitter profile.
Barstool Sports’ Dallas Braden says it was the same account that broke the news of the Mets hiring Beltran before any news source had the scoop.
Beltran’s name has been on the tip of many former Astros players and managers’ tongues when mentioning the grassroots of the Astros' cheating before the 2017 season, and how a ‘veteran player’ at the ‘end of his career’ was instrumental in spearheading a revolutionary way to get an upper-hand on the competition. Beltran reportedly played a 'key role' in the Astros pulling off one of the most meticulous and clandestine cheating scandals in sports history.
Beltran’s name became a major topic of conversation on Wednesday morning when video surfaced from a postgame press conference last season of the then-Red Sox manager Cora lauding the Yankees’ hiring of Beltran as a special advisor.
The Yankees' offense had just annihilated the Red Sox in their two-game London series sweep in which New York scored 29 runs in two games. Cora said of the Yankees and Beltran:
“They [the Yankees] are a lot better than last year. Their attention to detail is phenomenal. I was joking with someone that their biggest free agent acquisition was Carlos Beltran. I know how he works, he’s helping a lot. They’re paying attention to details… I’m not saying 'devices' and all that stuff, it’s just ‘stuff’ that the game will dictate.”
Not only did Cora mention Beltran’s name, but people noticed how Cora winked when he said his name as well.