Carlos Beltran calls losing job as Mets manager 'tough'

Carlos Beltran said losing his job as Mets manager before working a single game “was tough, because at the end of the day, I felt that I earned that job.”

But given the scandal in which he was enveloped in early 2020, the Mets felt they had no choice but to move on, a topic Beltran discussed with host Michael Kay on the YES Network’s “CenterStage” program.

On Sunday, YES released excerpts of the interview, in which Beltran admitted he and other 2017 Astros crossed the line in their sign-stealing scheme, and that there was a stain on that team’s championship because of it.

On Monday, the entire one-hour show premiered – recorded from YES’ studios without an audience – before Beltran’s debut as a YES analyst on a spring training game. (Kay missed the game because of COVID-19 protocols.)

In it, Kay asked Beltran about the Mets job, which he had for 77 days and zero games.

“Do you think the media were going to let that pass?” Beltran said. “I mean, I’m the only player named in the report. I’m the Mets manager. When this happened, I remember that I was in Port St. Lucie, almost getting ready for spring training.

“Owners and the GM [Brodie Van Wagenen] sat down with me and they gave me one option. They said, ‘Carlos, we need to part ways.’ . . . It was tough, because at the end of the day, I felt that I earned that job.

“I wanted to experience that, being a manager. Being able to manage some of those guys would have been great. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

“I think the way to punish me, even though no [other] player was punished, no player was suspended, was by naming me in the report.”

Beltran added, “Sometimes in life, you have to take the punches and move forward, and the situation has made me understand a lot of things, has made me see who are friends, who are not friends, and I have grown as a human being.”

Beltran had an excellent reputation on and off the field during his 20 seasons in the major leagues, including stints with both the Mets and Yankees. He teared up in the YES interview when Kay asked him about the work done by his baseball academy in Puerto Rico.

That image was tarnished by the Houston sign-stealing story, in which Beltran was deemed to be a central character by MLB.

“Of course, it hurts,” he said “It doesn’t feel good. I'm not proud of that moment. But let me tell you something also: I will not hold myself prisoner for what happened in ‘17. I'm a good human being. I know I am a good person. I know that as people, we make mistakes. Our job is to try and move forward, not to live in the past.

“I'm looking forward to focus on what is ahead of me, the opportunities, and continue to do better. I want to be a better person.”

Beltran said he appreciated the support he got after the report from people in baseball. “I think they saw a little bit of unfairness on how things played out and that was good for me because it really helped me out to move on in life,” he said.

Kay asked Beltran whether he had anything to do with the Astros’ alleged buzzer system for relaying signs in 2019, and he noted he was an assistant to Yankees GM Brian Cashman at the time.

Cashman has continued to criticize the 2017 Astros, who beat the Yankees in the ALCS. But Beltran called Cashman “a good friend. I really have a lot of respect for him.”

Beltran said that before he signed as a free agent with the Mets after the 2004 season, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner told him he would like sign him but that the payroll was too high for that. So he offered Beltran a one-year contract with the idea of signing him long term the year after that.

“What a character, what a personality,” Beltran said of Steinbrenner.

Beltran opted for the security of the Mets’ long-term deal.

During his time with the Mets, he said, “A lot of times we got caught up in seeing what the Yankees were more than focusing on us as a team and trying to be the best National League team in our division.”

Regarding the 2006 NLCS, which infamously ended with Beltran taking an Adam Wainwright curveball for strike three, he said, “It doesn’t haunt me at all. You know how many strikeouts I had in my career? A lot of strikeouts.

“Honestly, even though I didn’t come through for the team, which I wanted to come through, it didn’t work out. It was one of those moments where you end up being the last out of the game.

“I know people are sad. I feel that looking at that at-bat, I wanted to be that guy being in that position. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen, but I move on.”

By Neil Best

neil.best@newsday.com@sportswatch

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.