Carlos Beltran officially steps down as the manager of the New York Mets amid the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.
According to Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports, Carlos Beltran has decided to step down as manager of the New York Mets.
Carlos Beltran has told the Mets it is best if he steps down. Looks like the direction this will take.
— Tim Brown (@ByTimBrown) January 16, 2020
This is a sad and unnecessary decision. Beltran was a player during the 2017 Houston Astros’ scandal, but he’s facing consequences that no other player is.
By most reports, this was a move the Mets didn’t want to make. They believed that Beltran was being treated unfairly by MLB and the media, and felt he should face the same fate as all the other players from that team.
Unfortunately, the pressure got turned up too high. The Mets were put into an impossible situation where they had to make a choice to either stand by their man or by MLB. Beltran took the decision out the hands of the front office by choosing to step down.
This was the only way this was ever going to end. Even if the Mets wanted to stand by Beltran they would have made too many enemies around the league for that to be platable. However, if they fired him it would have shown players and future players that they don’t stand by their guys.
Beltran willingly stepping down is the kindest thing he could have done for the franchise. Still, he shouldn’t have been made a sacrificial lamb.
With spring training quickly approaching, the Mets now need to figure out how to proceed. There are a few names that make sense. Eduardo Perez was the runner-up in the original material race, and he’s still available. The Mets like Washington Nationals first base coach Tim Bogar, and he’s still available.
That said, there’s one candidate that stands out above the rest right now, Luis Rojas. Rojas was one of the final candidates for the managerial job back in November, but the Mets didn’t believe he was ready.
They thought the young coach needed more experience with major leaguers before he took on a major league managerial job. That might not be the case anymore. According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Mets are considering Rojas to replace Beltran.
#Mets coach Luis Rojas under consideration for managerial vacancy, sources tell The Athletic.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 16, 2020
Rojas was the manager of half the current New York Mets roster during their time in the minor leagues. His familiarity with the organization and the players is likely very appealingly in this time of crisis.
Look for the Mets to move fast to name a new manager with spring training just 27 days away.
