While commissioner Rob Manfred has cleared Carlos Beltran of possible discipline in the Houston Astros‘ sign-stealing scandal of 2017, the New York Mets‘ silence about his standing as their newly hired manager grows more deafening by the day.
Sources told ESPN that the Mets are assessing the situation concerning Beltran, who is supposed to open spring training with the team next month in what would be his rookie season as a big-league manager.
Historically, the Mets have been sensitive to criticism in the New York market. In recent days, there have been hard questions raised in the media about Beltran’s past denials about his role in the Astros’ cheating scandal and his accountability for what occurred.
Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch were fired Monday, hours after being implicated — and suspended for one year — in the report by Major League Baseball. Similarly, Alex Cora, who was a bench coach with the Astros in 2017 and part of the sign-stealing scheme, was let go by the Boston Red Sox as their manager Tuesday, in what the team is saying was a mutual decision.
Besides those three, Beltran was the most prominent person mentioned when Manfred presented his report, and the Mets have not issued any statements reiterating that he’ll continue to be the team’s manager.