Since news broke approximately two months ago that the Houston Astros used video cameras to steal opposing teams’ pitching signs at Minute Maid Park in Houston during the 2017 season, the dominos have continued to fall.
Major League Baseball suspended General Manager Jeff Luhnow and Manager A.J. Hinch for one year. The Astros followed this up by firing both men on Tuesday. Alex Cora, who has managed the Boston Red Sox for the past two years and led them to the World Series in 2018, was the bench coach of the Houston Astros during the 2017 season and was considered an integral part of the videotaping operation. Cora and the Red Sox agreed to “mutually part ways” on Tuesday, but obviously the Red Sox slammed the hammer down and made sure an integral part of the scandal was no longer associated with the team.
The cheating scheme itself was rather ingenious, combining both high and low technology. A video camera was positioned in center field to focus on the opposing catcher as he put his hand down to signal the signs to the pitcher, and the video feed was relayed to a television in the dugout. That’s the high technology part.
Once the signs were observed on the television in the Astros dugout, players or managers would then bang on a garbage can a specific number of times to indicate to the Astros hitter whether the pitch was a fastball, a curve and the like. That’s the low technology part.
Pretty devious stuff, I’d say.
Yet clever.
But what’s most interesting is that the latest figure to emerge in the crosshairs of Major League Baseball’s investigation is none other than Carlos Beltran, former Met player and newly hired Mets manager.
In the comprehensive report issued by Major League Baseball on the scandal, Beltran, who was an Astros player in 2017, is the only player mentioned. The rest of the Astros named are from management.
What’s more, the two reporters who first broke the story, Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drelich, described Beltran as the “mastermind” of the cheating operation. That is a view widely shared among Major League Baseball investigators.
Wow! Really? Carlos freakin’ Beltran, who had a very good yet flawed and injury-marred Mets career, is going to be the Mets manager when the season opens in April?
[Full Disclosure: I’m a diehard Mets fan and I have been since the days of Daryl and Doc in the early 80’s.]
So my question to Steve Cohen, the newly-minted Mets owner and hedge fund billionaire, robber baron, .1%’er, couldn’t you, Mr. Cohen, have found a more suitable candidate than a serial cheater who is forever tainted? Why not just have Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose co-manage the team?
Because the message you’re sending to Mets fans, Mr. Cohen, is that you just don’t care about the somewhat cliche but ultimately truly paramount “integrity of the game.” How can you possibly let this lying, cheating loser take over the reins of our young budding superstars like Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil? You can’t, is the answer. You just can’t.
So this essay ends with its title phrase, folks. Short and simple.
BELTRAN HAS TO GO.
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