Former New York Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado believes Carlos Beltrán is prepared for what this managerial job will throw at him.
Last week, the New York Mets finally made a decision on who would replace Mickey Callaway as their next manager. After numerous candidate considerations and a multitude of interviews, New York landed on Carlos Beltrán. They introduced him as their new skipper Monday morning at Citi Field.
Some actually disagree with the move, as Beltrán has no prior managerial experience. Some believe the Mets are too drawn to the fact that he’s a former player, and that a candidate such as Eduardo Perez could’ve been a better choice. It’s a legitimate opinion, but definitely not one former Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado possesses. Ultimately, Delgado feels the past ballclubs Beltrán has been with have prepared him for this new chapter.
“He spent the last few years of his career with organizations that are big in analytics and numbers,” Delgado told Ken Davidoff of the New York Post, referring to the New York Yankees and Houston Astros. “We have talked about how to use the new numbers versus the older, more traditional baseball (measures). I think he’s willing to work with it and embrace it and use as much information as he can, but also use the human touch and his communication skills.”
Delgado played with Beltrán in Queens from 2006-09. They were both a part of that 2006 team that lost to the eventual World Series Champion-Saint Louis Cardinals in the National League Championship Series.
A concern prior to Beltrán’s hire was his overall relationship with the Mets organization. Tensions arose after he and the ballclub disagreed over knee surgery in 2010, which then led to the trade of Beltrán in 2011. However, those issues seem to be in the far past.
“Obviously the tension wasn’t that bad, I guess, right?” Delgado said. “I don’t want to make much of it. It wasn’t that bad. Moving forward, the most important thing is that they feel comfortable with each other. They trust him enough that he got the job.”