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Carlos Beltran

Mets To Hire Carlos Beltran As Special Assistant To The GM

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Carlos Beltran is back with the Mets in a new front office role, according to Jon Heyman, Joel Sherman, and Andrew Marchand of the New York Post.  Beltran will work as an assistant to Mets GM Billy Eppler, SNY’s Andy Martino tweets.  Beltran hasn’t officially signed a contract yet, though “it’s far enough down the line” that Beltran felt secure in leaving his broadcasting job at the YES Network.

The news comes a little over three years after Beltran stepped down as the club’s manager in the aftermath of the Astros sign-stealing scandal, as Beltran ended up resigning without ever actually managing the Mets in a regular-season game.  The scandal created plenty of fallout around baseball, with the Red Sox also firing Alex Cora (who was the Astros’ bench coach in 2017) from his managerial post, and Houston fired both manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow.  However, more than three years removed from the scandal, only Luhnow has yet to resurface in a new baseball-related role.  The Red Sox re-hired Cora after the 2020 season was over, while the Tigers hired Hinch as their new skipper in advance of the 2021 campaign.

For Beltran, he returned to the fold last year, covering the Yankees as part of the YES Network’s team.  Marchand reports that YES was going to shift Beltran from calling games into a studio position for pre-game and postgame coverage heading into 2023, though Beltran recently told the network that he wasn’t returning next season.

In terms of on-field jobs, the Padres had some interest in Beltran for a coaching role last winter.  There were also speculative rumblings about a possible reunion between Beltran and the Mets last year, and Heyman, Sherman, and Marchand write that Beltran was indeed under consideration to be New York’s assistant hitting coach.

Instead, Beltran will now be working in the Amazins’ front office.  This marks the second front office job of Beltran’s career, as he worked as a special assistant to Yankees GM Brian Cashman in 2019.  The Yankees also considered hiring Beltran as manager before Aaron Boone got the job in the 2017-18 offseason, which would’ve marked an even quicker transition for Beltran given that he had only just ended his playing career when the Astros won the 2017 World Series.

While it raised some eyebrows when the Mets hired a manager who had never managed or coached at any level before, it wasn’t an entirely shocking move, given how much respect Beltran commanded around the game.  Even before he retired, Beltran was often cited as a possible future manager, or a future front-office executive after he took the advisory role with the Yankees.  Of course, that natural leadership ability was a double-edged sword, given that Beltran was reportedly the player who had the biggest role in the Astros’ sign-stealing methods, both helping to mastermind the plan and influencing teammates to follow suit.

No Astros players faced any punishment for their roles in the scandal, as the league gave players immunity in exchange for their details and information about the sign-stealing activities.  Of course, Beltran did end up being unofficially punished via the loss of his managerial job, just two months after being hired.  It is also fair to assume that the scandal impacted Beltran’s first appearance on the Hall of Fame ballot — while Beltran received a solid 46.5% of the vote and seems on pace to eventually be inducted, it is still a sharp drop for a player considered a shoo-in choice at the time of his retirement.

Jeff Kent Falls Off Hall Of Fame Ballot

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Former second baseman Jeff Kent has been up for Hall of Fame consideration for a decade, with this year marking his last crack at induction via the Baseball Writers Association of America. Kent received 46.5% of the the vote during this cycle, well shy of the 75% needed for induction. He falls off the ballot and will no longer be considered by the BBWAA.

Kent hovered in the 25-50% vote share range for his final four seasons. He never seemed in danger of falling below the 5% threshold that cuts players from the ballot early but also didn’t get the kind of late momentum needed to vault him within striking range of induction. If he’s to be enshrined in Cooperstown, that’ll now have to come via the Era Committee. The Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee met this winter — enshrining Fred McGriff in the process — meaning the earliest Kent will be under consideration again is the 2025-26 offseason.

A right-handed hitter, Kent was one of the game’s better power bats over his 17-year MLB career. He played just under 2300 games for six different clubs, with his best seasons coming as a member of the Giants. Kent hit .297/.368/.535 during a six-year stretch in San Francisco spanning 1997-2002. He received MVP votes in five of those campaigns and won the award in 2000 thanks to a massive .334/.424/.596 showing with 33 longballs.

Kent finished his career with a .290/.356/.500 line in more than 9500 plate appearances. His 377 career homers are the most by any primary second baseman, while he collected 2461 hits, drove in 1518 runs and scored 1320 times. He was a five-time All-Star and secured four Silver Slugger awards while winning the aforementioned MVP. Strong as his offensive contributions were, Kent faced plenty of questions about his glove at the keystone. Those defensive concerns dissuaded enough voters to keep him from induction.

While Kent was the only player to “age” off the ballot this year, a number of first-time candidates unsurprisingly dropped out after not reaching the 5% threshold to last another season. Bronson Arroyo, R.A. Dickey, John Lackey, Mike Napoli, Huston Street, Matt Cain, Jacoby Ellsbury, Andre Ethier, J.J. Hardy, Jhonny Peralta, Jered Weaver and Jayson Werth each fall out of future consideration.

Among first-time candidates, just two topped the 5% mark to remain on the ballot for at least another year. Carlos Beltrán debuted at 46.5% and would seem to have a solid chance at induction at some point down the line. Francisco Rodríguez has a more uphill battle after starting off at 10.8% of the vote.

YES Network Hires Carlos Beltran As Game Analyst

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Carlos Beltrán is joining the YES Network as a part-time game analyst, tweets Jack Curry, his now-colleague at YES Network. He is expected to call 36 Yankees games next season. Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported last week that Beltrán was under consideration for an analyst role with YES.

It marks the first notable career-related development for Beltrán in two years. Hired by the Mets as manager in November 2019, he and the organization parted ways the following January. That quick ouster, of course, was in response to Beltrán’s active role in the now-infamous 2017 Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, the extent of which came to light in the intervening two months.

Beltrán has largely remained out of the news since departing the Mets, but his name has surfaced a couple times this offseason. He was floated — largely speculatively, it seems — as a possibility to assume some role in Queens on Buck Showalter’s coaching staff. Beltrán also had some brief discussions with the Padres about taking on a potential coaching role in San Diego. Neither position came to fruition, and it seems his next step will be in broadcasting.

The 44-year-old Beltrán is no stranger to the Yankees organization. He played for the Bronx Bombers late in his career, logging action in 341 games between 2014-16. Beltrán returned to New York after hanging up his spikes, serving as an advisor to Yankees general manager Brian Cashman during the 2019 campaign. Obviously, he’s not currently returning to a role in baseball operations, but he should bring plenty of knowledge about the franchise to his position calling games.

It remains to be seen whether this broadcasting position will serve as a sort of stepping stone for Beltrán in future efforts to get a position with an MLB club. Both A.J. Hinch and Alex Cora — the Astros’ manager and bench coach during the 2017 season, respectively — were suspended for the entirety of the 2020 seasons and dismissed from their respective managerial gigs in Houston and Boston. Yet both returned to managing quickly after their suspensions wrapped up. Hinch was hired by the Tigers; Cora reunited with the Red Sox.

It’s possible Beltrán attempts to follow a similar path down the line. Because he was a player on the 2017 team, Beltrán was not suspended by MLB despite the league finding he’d been a key orchestrator of the sign-stealing operation. Unlike Hinch and Cora, the nine-time All-Star didn’t have a World Series-winning résumé as a skipper that might’ve allowed him to land a new managerial position after a year away from the game. Whether or not he pursues future coaching/front office roles, Beltrán will garner plenty of attention next offseason, as he’s slated to appear on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time.

Coaching/Organzational Notes: Beltran, Mets, Chavez, Manno

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When the Padres were putting together their new coaching staff this winter, the club had some talks with Carlos Beltran about a possible job, The New York Post’s Ken Davidoff reports.  “The talks never advanced to anything serious,” either on the coaching front, or towards Beltran’s preference for an advisory position within the front office (similar to the role Beltran held with the Yankees in 2019).  Beltran has yet to work in any official baseball capacity since the Mets abruptly fired him as manager in January 2020, following the revelations of Beltran’s involvement in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.

San Diego is the first team known to explore hiring Beltran for any position, which does perhaps present a bit of a icebreaker towards his possible return with some team, though Davidoff opines that it doesn’t seem Beltran has interest in coaching.  That could be an obstacle if Beltran eventually wants to get back into managing, considering that Beltran has still never officially managed or coached at any level of pro ball; the Mets fired him before he ever led the dugout for a single game.  It remains to be seen exactly what Beltran’s next step might be, as Davidoff notes that the longtime star outfielder has moved his family back to Puerto Rico, and Beltran has the financial security “to be selective in his return — or to simply never return” if he so chooses.

More notes from the coaching and organizational ranks…

  • Earlier this week, Deesha Thosar of The New York Daily News reported that the Mets were lining up “an exciting, headline-grabbing hire” as their next bench coach.  In her latest update, Thosar reports that Eric Chavez was that planned major name, as the Mets talked with the longtime A’s star about the bench coaching role before eventually settling on Chavez as the team’s new hitting coach.  As one might expect, hiring Chavez involved “a tricky negotiation process with the Yankees,” considering the Yankees only just hired Chavez as their assistant hitting coach in December.
  • In regards to the bench coach role, the Mets are now aiming towards hiring “a younger, analytics-driven individual,” Thosar reports.  It will make for an interesting complement to veteran manager Buck Showalter, providing something of an old school/new school approach between Showalter and his next chief lieutenant.  Reds game planning/outfield coach Jeff Pickler is one of the names under consideration for the Mets’ bench coach job, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link).
  • Reds scout Bruce Manno is retiring after close to 45 years in pro baseball, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link).  Manno has been a familiar face in many front offices over the years, working with the Blue Jays, Brewers, Orioles, Cardinals, Braves, and Reds in various capacities, including working as the Cards’ director of player development during the club’s 2006 World Series season.  Manno worked as an assistant GM with both the Brewers (1987-94) and Braves (2007-14), and his time in Atlanta helped pave the way towards their 2021 title.  Freddie Freeman was drafted, developed, and extended during Manno’s tenure, and Ronald Acuna and Ozzie Albies joined the organization on their initial amateur contracts.  (Manno discussed the Acuna/Albies deals with David O’Brien of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution back in 2018, with Manno praising the work of then-director of international scouting Johnny Almarez).  We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Manno on a fine career, and we wish him the best in his retirement.

Coaching/Organizational Notes: Mets, Pirates, Carroll, Orioles

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The Mets are nearing a deal to add Joey Cora to Buck Showalter’s staff as third base coach, and it seems the rest of the coaches will be in place soon. Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News reports that the Mets are likely to finalize their entire staff by this weekend. Only pitching coach Jeremy Hefner remains from last year’s group, leaving first base coach, hitting coach, bullpen coach, bench coach and assistant hitting/pitching coaches to be determined.

Interestingly, Thosar hears that the mystery bench coach is likely to be a “headline-grabbing hire.” While that person’s identity remains unclear, Thosar writes that nine-time All-Star outfielder Carlos Beltrán is not under consideration. Beltrán served as Mets manager for around two months over the 2019-20 offseason, but he and the club mutually parted ways before he ever coached a game after his role in the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal was made public. He hasn’t landed a position with an MLB team since then, and he apparently won’t be Showalter’s right-hand man in Queens. Yesterday, Mike Puma of The New York Post suggested former Orioles bench coach John Russell and Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough could be possibilities for the role.

The latest on some other coaching/front office situations around the league:

  • Jamey Carroll is departing the Pirates organization, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). He’d spent the past seven seasons in Pittsburgh, originally joining the Bucs’ front office in January 2015. Most recently, the 47-year-old was serving as a special assistant in baseball operations and as the club’s defensive coordinator, per Mackey. Carroll is best known for his twelve-year big league playing career. Between 2002-13, the Indiana native suited up with the Expos/Nationals, Rockies, Indians, Dodgers, Twins and Royals.
  • The Orioles became the latest in a handful of teams around the league to hire co-hitting coaches in November. Baltimore added Matt Borgschulte and Ryan Fuller to the big league staff, the first MLB opportunity for both. It’s an odd time for incoming coaches to get acclimated to a new club, as staff members are prohibited from interacting with players on the 40-man roster during the ongoing lockout. Jon Meoli catches up with Fuller and Borgschulte to discuss their new positions, with the staff members telling Meoli they talk with one another daily to build out individualized plans to implement with each hitter once the work stoppage ends. Fuller, who was promoted from within the O’s farm system, is familiar with some of the players on the big league roster. Borgschulte was brought over from the Twins organization and doesn’t have the same kind of personal connection to much of the roster, but Fuller speaks with Meoli about how his colleague’s background in pitch recognition training adds a relatively new element to the team’s development processes.

Latest On Mets’ Front Office

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For months, there’s been an expectation of an impending shakeup in the Mets’ front office. Last offseason’s GM hire Jared Porter was fired five weeks into his tenure after his past sexual harassment of a reporter was brought to light. Assistant GM Zack Scott was bumped up to acting general manager in Porter’s place, but Scott’s future with the organization is in question too after he was arrested and charged with DWI a few weeks back. Scott was placed on administrative leave, and team president Sandy Alderson — originally brought in to handle a broader, more supervisory role — had to assume control over day-to-day baseball operations.

Much about the forthcoming hiring process remains undetermined, but Anthony DiComo of MLB.com notes that the team intends to bring in a president of baseball operations this winter. Alderson will remain with the organization and move back into the broader team president role for which he initially signed up, tweets Tim Healey of Newsday. That’s not especially surprising, since Jon Heyman of the MLB Network reported last week that Alderson was under contract through the end of next year but had no intention of running baseball operations on a daily basis and was intending to move back into the president role.

There have been some calls for owner Steve Cohen to move on from Alderson due to questions about his vetting of previous hires. In addition to Porter and Scott, Alderson hired Mickey Callaway as manager during his previous stint as Mets’ GM. Multiple women have since accused Callaway of sexual misconduct — some of which ostensibly occurred during his time in New York. An MLB investigation determined he acted inappropriately, and Callaway was placed on the league’s ineligible list through 2022.

Despite that history, the Mets are set to give Alderson another opportunity to shape the front office. Cohen and Alderson will jointly run the hiring process for the incoming president of baseball ops, according to Joel Sherman and Greg Joyce of the New York Post. That prospective hire would then be empowered to bring in their own lieutenants to assist in daily operations.

Theo Epstein has already been speculated upon as a potential candidate, and Sherman and Joyce report that Cohen would be “open to considering” the former Cubs’ president. Epstein, though, is said to want a minority ownership share in an organization if he’s to return to baseball operations. It’s unclear if the Mets would entertain that kind of scenario.

In addition to the front office revamp, there are questions about Luis Rojas’ future as manager. The 40-year-old signed a two-year contract during his hiring over the 2019-20 offseason; barring any sort of unannounced extension, he’s in the final few weeks of the guaranteed portion of that deal, although the contract does reportedly contain multiple club options. Three games under .500, the Mets look likely to miss the playoffs for the second year of Rojas’ tenure despite entering the season with reasonably high expectations.

It’s impossible to pin the blame for that entirely on Rojas. The team dealt with a series of key injuries early in the season and some of the roster’s most notable players have underperformed. But the on-field results simply haven’t been good enough to silence speculation about Rojas’ long-term future, particularly since he was first hired by the previous Wilpon family ownership group and former GM Brodie Van Wagenen.

Mike Puma of the New York Post reported last night that Alderson has expressed a desire to retain Rojas as manager next season. Puma adds, however, that Cohen and the incoming president of baseball ops are expected to have significant input in that decision. According to Puma, Cohen — at the time a minority owner — “really liked” the Mets’ decision to hire Carlos Beltrán as skipper in November 2019. Beltrán was fired just a few months later after his role in the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal came to light (leading to Rojas subsequently getting the position), and he hasn’t been seriously mentioned as a potential managerial candidate in the nearly two years since.

That’s not to say the Mets are seriously considering replacing Rojas with Beltrán. For one, Cohen himself rather bizarrely pushed back on Puma’s reporting this morning (on Twitter). And Puma’s report didn’t suggest the Mets were actively considering Beltrán at this point. Cohen obviously wouldn’t have been the only member of the organization enamored with Beltrán’s qualifications at the time he was hired. The intervening revelations of his role in the sign-stealing scandal could have changed that opinion. Of course, then-Astros manager A.J. Hinch and bench coach Alex Cora — both of whom were suspended and fired from their respective positions elsewhere for their roles in the scandal — quickly landed managerial jobs once their suspensions concluded at the end of last season, so it’s not as if the industry at large has proven unforgiving.

There’s a lot about the Mets’ direction yet to be determined. The team will presumably look into executives currently in high positions with other teams. Three top personnel — Seattle’s Jerry Dipoto, Tampa Bay’s Erik Neander and Kansas City’s Dayton Moore — were recently promoted to president of baseball operations by their current clubs, presumably at least in part to guard against potential poaching this offseason by teams seeking a president of baseball ops themselves. It wouldn’t be surprising to see more instances of that kind of gamesmanship before the offseason hiring processes really kick off.

Latest On Astros’ Sign-Stealing Scandal

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The Astros’ sign-stealing scandal has been the dominant story in baseball over the past several weeks, though it didn’t come as a revelation to many throughout the game. A scout from another team told Barry Svrluga and Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post: “It was a big open secret, really big. Throughout baseball, throughout the scouting community, for several years, not just starting in 2017. I would say probably 2016, maybe earlier, through [2019], things were going on that were blatantly against the rules.”

If true, it further calls into question the Astros’ accomplishments in recent years. They amassed 100-plus victories in each of the past three campaigns, won the World Series in 2017 and took home the American League pennant a season ago. GM Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch were suspended for a year apiece last month and lost their jobs as a result of their complicity in stealing signs during the team’s title-winning season. Luhnow, it seems, was a key part of a scheme called “Codebreaker” that the team used from 2017-18.

It’s possible neither Luhnow nor Hinch will work in the majors again as a result of their wrongdoing. That would’ve sounded ridiculous last fall when the Astros were the toast of the AL and vying for a World Series against the Nationals. The Nats upended the Astros in seven games, but Washington entered the Fall Classic wary of Houston’s shenanigans.

“It was amazing, once [it was assured] we were playing the Astros, how many people were coming out of the woodwork to let us know what they were doing,” one member of the Nationals told Svrluga and Sheinin.

Second baseman Brian Dozier, a National last season and a 2018 member of the Dodgers (whom the Astros took down in the 2017 World Series), received advance warning from his ex-LA teammates that Houston was behaving unethically. “Several” members of the Dodgers informed Dozier before last year’s World Series that the Astros were stealing signs, according to Svrluga and Sheinin. Meanwhile, former Astros and Nationals reliever Tony Sipp told Nats ace Max Scherzer to worry about Houston’s stealing of signs. The Nationals ended up overcoming it by using wristbands and multiple signs, as Svrluga and Sheinin explain in their piece.

The Astros advanced to the 2019 World Series by defeating the Yankees in the ALCS for the second time in three years. Like the Nationals, the Yankees suspected something was amiss.

“We’re so focused on them cheating, we’re forgetting we have to just go out and play,” one Yankees official said before the series, which the Astros ultimately won in six games.

Outfielder Carlos Beltran and catcher Brian McCann, both now retired from playing, are in the unique position of having suited up for the Astros and Yankees recently. Beltran even worked for the Yankees as a special advisor last season, and he informed “low level” New York officials of Houston’s cheating, per Ken Rosenthal, Evan Drellich and Marc Carig of The Athletic (subscription link). Beltran then became the Mets’ manager this past fall, only to lose his job last month as a result of the Astros’ violations.

While Beltran initially denied any knowledge of the Astros’ misdeeds, the 42-year-old potential Hall of Famer was apparently an important figure in them. McCann asked him to stop, two members of the 2017 Astros told The Athletic, but Beltran “steamrolled everybody.” At that point, he was one of the most accomplished individuals on the roster and someone whom younger players (and even Hinch) were basically reluctant to cross.

Beltran was part of commissioner Rob Manfred’s investigation into the Astros, but the latter elected against punishing any of the players from the 2017 club. However, if Beltran really was so instrumental in the Astros’ crimes, it’s hard to imagine him working in MLB again. He may even have less of a chance to get into Cooperstown. Regardless, this latest news on the Astros is yet another black mark on an organization that has taken a beating this winter.

Mets Notes: Nimmo, Coaching Changes

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The Mets never entertained the idea of trading centerfielder Brandon Nimmo this winter, despite the rumors, and they’re excited about what he can do under new manager Luis Rojas, per Kevin Kernan of the New York Post (who notes that Nimmo played under Rojas thrice before on his way to the major leagues). An injury limited Nimmo’s effectiveness last season, sapping him of power and limiting him to just 43 games in the first half. Nimmo hit just .200/.344/.323 before the break while playing through injuries. The Mets look forward to a healthy season from Nimmo, especially after his return produced a .261/.430/.565 bounceback in September. Centerfield is a difficult position to fill league-wide, and Nimmo’s infectious personality and exceptional eye at the plate make him a valuable performer for the Mets and a key to their 2020 season. Let’s check in on some coaching changes within the Mets’ organization…

  • Former big league catcher Brian Schneider will join the Mets’ staff as a quality control coach, per MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. Schneider joined the organization this winter as the new manager of the Triple-A Syracuse Mets, though he’ll never actually take over in that role. Schneider assumes the role vacated by new manager Luis Rojas, presumably completing Rojas’ staff.
  • The ripple effects of Carlos Beltran stepping down from his post as manager of the Mets continue throughout the organization as Chad Kreuter takes over Schneider’s post as the manager in Triple-A, per Tim Healey of Newsday. Kreuter, like Schneider, is a former big league catcher. He spent the past three seasons managing the Mets’ High-A affiliate in St. Lucie. His replacement has not yet been named. 2020 will be Kreuter’s fourth season with the Mets’ organization.

Astros To Interview Dusty Baker

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The Houston Astros will interview veteran skipper Dusty Baker on Monday, writes MLB.com’s Matt Kelly (crediting Jon Paul Morosi). Baker has also drawn interest from the Mets to fill their recent opening. While the Astros and Baker have connected, Baker has yet to hear from the Mets (or Red Sox), per MLB Network insider Jon Heyman.

Baker managed an even 3,500 games across four stints in the majors. The Giants (1993-2002), the Cubs (2003-2006), the Reds (2008-2013) and Nationals (2016-2017) all enjoyed regular season success with Baker at the helm.

Baker hasn’t made much traction in the managerial market since parting ways with the Nationals, but unique circumstances in New York and Houston may open the door for the 70-year-old Baker to return to the bench. Certainly, Baker can handle the media scrutiny that will comes with stepping into the spotlight vacated by A.J. Hinch or Carlos Beltran, respectively.

Baker is no stranger to public scrutiny. He oversaw the Giants through Barry Bonds’ record-breaking home run season and the Cubs during their 2003 playoff collapse and the what-ifs of the Kerry Wood-Mark Prior era. He’s also the only manager in the last 24 years to take the Reds to the playoffs, which he did three times.

Playoff disappointment has also been a feature of Baker teams, however. After twice losing in the first round, Baker took the 2002 Giants to the World Series and lost. The Cubs heartbreak followed. He was unable to get either the Reds or Nationals out of the first round, getting eliminated in a winner-take-all game in each of his last four postseason appearances.

Of course, a manager cannot be solely held accountable for playoff losses, and Baker would certainly provide a semblance of much-needed stability to either franchise. Houston has said they want to have the opening filled by February 3rd.

Carlos Beltran Out As Mets’ Manager

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8:13pm: Beltran will not receive any of the approximately $3MM owed to him over the course of his three-year deal with the Mets, the New York Post’s Ken Davidoff reports.  The team has instead made a $200K donation to Beltran’s charitable foundation.

12:25pm: The Mets have formally announced Beltran’s ousting. COO Jeff Wilpon and general manager Brodie Van Wagenen issued the following statement:

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.

12:07pm: Carlos Beltran’s time as manager of the Mets will apparently come to a close before he even suits up for a game. Yahoo’s Tim Brown reports (via Twitter) that Beltran has informed the Mets he feels it is best if he steps down.

Beltran was named in commissioner Rob Manfred’s report on the findings of his investigation into the Astros’ sign-stealing scheme earlier this week. While Beltran was a player at the time and wasn’t expected to be disciplined by the league as a result, reports over the past 24 hours have indicated that the Mets have been mulling his future in light of his connection to the scandal.

Whether the decision truly rested with Beltran or whether the wording of the reports (and, presumably, the forthcoming announcement) was structured in a way to allow Beltran to save face to some extent isn’t known at this time. Regardless, his ousting as manager now means that every person listed in Manfred’s Astros report — Astros GM Jeff Luhnow, Astros manager A.J. Hinch, Red Sox manager Alex Cora (formerly Houston’s bench coach) and Beltran — have now lost their jobs in the wake of a scandal that has increasingly shaken Major League Baseball as a whole.

It’s worth emphasizing that The Athletic’s report that broke the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal wide open was published two weeks after Beltran was named Mets manager. As such, there’s no reason to believe that Beltran was asked about the scandal during the interview process — let alone any reason to believe that he was untruthful with the Mets during interviews. That said, Beltran did tell the New York Post’s Joel Sherman shortly after the scandal was brought to public light that he was “not aware of that camera,” denying any improper utilization of technology.

Two months later, Manfred’s report indicated the following: “Approximately two months into the 2017 season, a group of players, including Carlos Beltrán, discussed that the team could improve on decoding opposing teams’ signs and communicating the signs to the batter.”

The Mets, incredibly, are now the third team seeking a new manager in mid-January. They’ll likely interview a mix of internal and external candidates, and it’s worth noting that the club did interview bench coach Hensley Meulens and quality control coach Luis Rojas in its initial search following the firing of Mickey Callaway. While other clubs throughout the league might be less inclined to allow members of their coaching staff to interview now that Spring Training looms in the near future, ESPN analyst Eduardo Perez was also reported to be a leading candidate in New York’s most recent search. One would imagine that he could once again factor prominently into the club’s hunt for a skipper.

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