Carlos Beltran’s excuse for Astros sign-stealing scandal is pathetic

Carlos Beltran, the man who helped devise the Astros sign-stealing scheme, claims he would’ve stopped it had anyone told him it was illegal.

Beltran played a key role in devising the Astros sign-stealing scheme from scratch.

The scheme, which most baseball fans know well by now, began with a video camera in centerfield. Via the video, Astros players and coaches would help relay which pitch was coming by making some sort of loud noise, whether it be banging a bat or a trash can. This ruse was used throughout Houston’s 2017 World Series run.

No Astros players — minus Carlos Beltran who had since retired — were punished. Several coaches, as well as general manager Jeff Luhnow, were suspended and lost their jobs in Houston.

Years after the fact, the sign-stealing scheme remain a stain on the game, and in some fans’ minds places an asterisk next to the Astros’ 2017 World Series title. MLB allowed Houston to keep their championship, despite the admitted cheating.

Carlos Beltran: Astros would have stopped stealing signs

In an interview with YES and Michael Kay which is set to air on Monday, Beltran claimed the Astros simply thought they were ahead of the curve, and would’ve stopped the system had they been told it was illegal.

“A lot of people always ask me why you didn’t stop it,” Beltrán said via The Athletic. “And my answer is, I didn’t stop it the same way no one stopped it. This is working for us. Why you gonna stop something that is working for you? So, if the organization would’ve said something to us, we would’ve stopped it for sure.”

Beltran went on to say there was no communication between the Astros front office and the players that the system they were using was illegal.

As The Athletic previously reported, and Evan Drellich rightly points out in his article above, this is not the first time Beltran has spoken publicly about the scandal. He previously stated that the Astros players did not know about the centerfield camera, and claimed Houston’s system of sign stealing was legal. That, obviously, is not true.

Beltran soon lost a job he had just acquired as manager of the New York Mets.

Beltran is not alone in his wrongdoing, and surely the Astros and their fanbase would rather us stop pulling at this thread. Houston was not alone in sketchy sign-stealing schemes, either. They were merely the most obvious, and therefore caught.

But winning a World Series while using said scheme shows the ends justified their means. The success of said system is not a reason to continue doing it. It’s tough to believe Astros players didn’t know what they were doing was wrong.

The value of Beltran’s comment is this, however — some teams may have devised sign-stealing schemes. This can be true. The Astros were not alone, and as the years go by, we’ll likely discover more. But simply aiming the blame upwards and to the rest of the league does not rid Houston’s players of said blame.

The Astros won a World Series while admittedly cheating. That will never change.