by Former Astros outfielder Carlos Beltrán has spoken publicly for the first time about his role in Houston’s infamous sign-stealing scandal, admitting the team was wrong to execute on its plan.
Beltrán, now an analyst for the YES Network, spoke as a guest on CenterStage with Michael Kay and explained how no one in the organization stepped in to stop the illegal activity.
“A lot of people still ask me why you didn’t arrest him,” Beltrán said, according to a YES Network program transcript seen by Athleticism. “And my answer is that I didn’t stop him the way no one stopped him. It works for us. Why are you going to quit something that works for you? So if the organization had told us anything, we would have definitely arrested him.
Beltrán was one of the people who helped develop the team’s panel flight plan, which connected a camera in center field to a video screen located in the tunnel near Houston’s dugout. Players and staff would signal pitches to hitters in real time by hitting a trash can with a bat.
After Commissioner Rob Manfred sent a letter to all teams saying the league office would take a more serious approach to electronic sign theft, Beltrán said the Astros front office had no communication on the matter. with the players.
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“Well if [the Astros front office] received the letter, they knew it, but they never shared it with us,” Beltrán said. “Nobody told us, you know, nobody told us. I wish someone had said something.
After investigation of the matter by Athleticism in 2019, Beltrán said the team did not use electronic methods to steal signs, which was later proven to be false. Beltrán was hired to be the Mets’ manager in November, but lost his job two months later after his role in the scandal became known.
Former Astros coach and current Tigers coach AJ Hinch, Red Sox coach Alex Cora and Astros president Jeff Luhnow also lost their jobs.
Beltrán said that at the time, he and the rest of the team didn’t think they were crossing a line with their methods. He also expressed frustration at being the only Astros player to be named in the MLB report after the league concluded its investigation into the matter.
“What bothered me about it was, you know, when I sit down to cooperate with them [MLB], they said to me: ‘We are not going against the players. We go against… the field staff, the front office and the organization,” Beltrán said. “And the fact that I am the only player named in this report? This is the part I don’t understand. Everyone gets immunity except Carlos Beltrán? I do not understand.
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