Carlos Beltran—not Santa Claus—is coming to town for a front office job with the New York Yankees, a move that may connect to Manny Machado.
The New York Yankees are bringing in Carlos Beltran as a special assistant to GM Brian Cashman. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand was the first to report the news:
According to a source, Carlos Beltran is expected to join the Yankees as a special advisor to GM Brian Cashman. Beltran was repped by Dan Lozano of MVP Sports Group, who also reps Manny Machado. Will be interesting to see if Beltran is part of the Machado recruiting process.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) December 18, 2018
Beltran interviewed for the Yankees managerial opening after the team fired Joe Girardi in 2017. He spent some time in pinstripes toward the end of his career (2014 to 2016), hitting 56 of his 435 career dingers with the Yankees.
The switch-hitting outfielder also played seven of his 20 years in the MLB with the New York Mets. He was a nine-time All-Star, a three-time Gold Glover, and he retired after earning his only championship ring in 2017.
That extensive experience will be valuable to the entire Yankees organization.
As Feinsand noted in his Tweet, Beltran’s hiring right before Manny Machado comes to visit the Bronx on Wednesday seems like more than a coincidence. Beltran finished off his career with the same agent who currently represents Machado.
[membership level="0"] [/membership]New York has been noncommittal on Machado, indicating that they won’t give him the kind of money he’s looking for. Per Fancred’s Jon Heyman, the Yankees will offer below $300 million, which many believe is the baseline for negotiations:
Yankees like Manny Machado and will meet with Machado but source says they will not pay $300M for Machado. Phillies, Chisox and mystery teams(?) seen as main competitors.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 9, 2018
But with the timely addition of Beltran, and reports that the betting world is picking the Yankees to land Machado, the plot is ever thickening. It’s thicker than the fat guy in the red suit who takes credit for the presents you bought your kids.
If he can help the Yankees land Machado, Beltran might be able to teach the young star how to play the game the right way. Maybe that’s the real reason the Bombers brought him back to the Bronx.
Either that or Cashman is grooming him to replace Aaron Boone if the Yanks don’t win the Series in 2019.
