How MLB handed the Mets a blueprint to overlook Carlos Beltrán's scandalous past

Only the New York Mets could hire a manager, watch him step down before managing his first game in part due to a cheating scandal with another team, and then potentially hire him again several years later. With how dysfunctional the current Mets are, it’s hard to fault them for their reported interest in re-hiring Carlos Beltrán.

Beltrán, who will enter the Hall of Fame this year, initially became the Mets’ manager following the 2019 season. However, he and the Mets mutually parted ways ahead of spring training after a league investigation uncovered his role as a major player in the Astros’ sign-stealing scheme.

For anyone who believes that Beltrán should never be allowed back in an MLB dugout, don’t direct your frustration toward the Mets. Instead, take it up with Major League Baseball, which has enabled a culture where past transgressions don’t matter.

Alex Rodriguez and Pete Rose helped pave the path for Carlos Beltrán’s potential Mets return

No one should be surprised that Beltrán could become the Mets’ manager again. The Red Sox brought Alex Cora back after an unofficial suspension in 2020, and the Tigers hired A.J. Hinch despite him being the Astros’ manager during the scandal.

Keep in mind that, at one point, Fox’s MLB studio coverage featured Pete Rose, Alex Rodriguez, and Frank Thomas.

There’s a reason why Thomas is the only one of that trio in the Hall of Fame. Rose was still serving a lifetime ban for gambling on baseball, and Rodriguez missed the entire 2014 season following a suspension for performance-enhancing drugs.

Yet, the league was fine with Fox making Rose and Rodriguez mainstays of its World Series coverage. It didn’t matter that Rose, the sport’s all-time hit king, remained on the ineligible list. Fox and Major League Baseball cared far more about his baseball mind and his marketability.

(We must note that Fox terminated Rose’s contract in 2017 following accusations that he had sex with an underage girl during his playing career.)

Rodriguez isn’t the only known PED user who Major League Baseball has embraced in retirement. The league hired former All-Star outfielder Nelson Cruz, who served a suspension during the Biogenesis scandal, as a special advisor in 2024. 

Kevin Millar has been among MLB Network’s most popular figures since arriving in 2011. Although Millar never tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, he did cross the picket line amid the 1994-95 players’ strike. He wasn’t allowed to join the players’ union or appear in video games, but he could work for a league-owned network? 

Carlos Beltran is the right man for the Mets job

To be clear, I’m not saying that the Mets shouldn’t hire Beltrán, nor do I think the Phillies are wrong for reportedly targeting Cora as their next manager. I also didn’t raise a stink when the Tigers hired Hinch, and I don’t believe the sign-stealing scandal should impact Jose Altuve’s Hall of Fame candidacy. 

Major League Baseball does not care except when it is required to create the impression that they care. As a result, the league’s 30 franchises are allowed to feel similarly, which is why I won’t be surprised when someone suspended for performance-enhancing drugs eventually earns a managerial job. 

So if the league doesn’t care, and the teams don’t care, why should we care? Apathy is an incredibly dangerous mindset, but it’s one that Major League Baseball is essentially encouraging through its own choice to shrug at poor decision-making. 

And if you’re against Beltrán becoming a manager, just remember that he’d be taking over the Mets. He’ll have the world and baseball gods working against him from the moment he signs that contract.

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