David Lennon: It's been long enough. Carlos Beltran should be an MLB manager.
Carlos Beltran, General Manager for Team Puerto Rico, at the World Baseball Classic at Hiram Bithorn Stadium on Mar. 5, 2026 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Credit: Getty Images/Al Bello
FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Carlos Beltran Redemption Tour, now in its seventh year, has never had a better three months.
Making the Hall of Fame in late January. Currently serving as Team Puerto Rico’s general manager in the World Baseball Classic.
Stack those two accolades on top of Beltran’s ongoing duties as a special assistant to the Mets, and you could say that his resume has fully recovered from the 2017 Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.
Almost. But not quite yet.
Because as happy as Beltran is in these numerous roles — probably none was more enjoyable than seeing his Puerto Rico squad come together during the past week — there remains unfinished business.
After Beltran was fingered as the Astros’ sign-stealing ringleader — the only player mentioned by name in MLB’s official report — he was stripped of his title as Mets manager after only 77 days on the job, never even making it to spring training.
Getting another shot at managing is really the only thing left for Beltran to accomplish.
Some might suggest that reaching the sport’s Mount Olympus, wearing a Mets cap on a Cooperstown plaque, would satisfy any lingering void from past transgressions. But to have a dream snuffed out the way Beltran did in early 2020, and then doing the time as a baseball pariah, becoming a manager (again) has to be the next logical step, right?
That’s pretty much how I pitched it to Beltran last week as he stood behind the cage at JetBlue Park, watching Team Puerto Rico take batting practice.
“I told my wife, Jessica, at times I think about it,” Beltran told Newsday. “But when I think hard, I’m like, ‘Hmm, I don’t know.’ Because at the point where I am right now, you can’t be halfway. You got to be all-in.”
Just to be clear, this wasn’t a conversation about the Mets’ job. It was about any potential future openings around MLB. Carlos Mendoza is entering the final guaranteed season of his three-year deal (with the Mets holding a team option for 2027), and part of Beltran’s multi-faceted front-office role involves helping him succeed. Beltran stressed that goal repeatedly, stated his own affection for Mendoza and mentioned how much he enjoys working with him.
The Mets also have given Beltran, who will turn 49 next month, a priceless opportunity to see how a cutting-edge baseball operations division — run by David Stearns and funded by the sport’s richest individual owner in Steve Cohen — goes about its mission on a daily basis.
It’s a world Beltran never would have imagined during a playing career that spanned two decades, and even light years beyond his brief tenure as manager during the winter of 2020.
While Beltran utilizes that education now in real time, that only increases his value, whether it’s as a future general manager or manager, when the next chance arises. Combine that with his high baseball IQ and his experiences as a nine-time All-Star who played for seven teams — including both New York clubs — and the managing credentials are hard to beat.
“I want to be around the game,” Beltran said. “I do feel, in my heart, that I have a lot to contribute. I know it’s a game of ups and downs, so to me, being able to relate to the players — for some people it’s difficult, but for me it’s easy. They get to hear what I have to say, but they also understand that it comes from a good place, because I was part of that, and they take it the right way.
“Whatever the opportunity is moving forward, I love to learn about the game and the type of game that we’re playing now — with all the information and every single department that contributes to the organization.”
Absorbing all that intel is one thing, but it stands to reason that someone as competitive as Beltran will want to deploy that knowledge himself when he’s running the show. And as far as that Astros stain goes, it’s pretty much faded from the public consciousness by now.
Beltran sailed into the Hall of Fame with 84.2% of the BBWAA vote this time around, although it took him four years — likely due to the penance some levied on him for the scandal (full disclosure: I had Beltran on my ballot from his first year of eligibility).
A fellow Houston co-conspirator, Alex Cora, had his managerial gig with the Red Sox momentarily disrupted by a one-year suspension but has been embraced in Boston ever since. The minute AJ Hinch’s ban was up — it amounted to roughly nine months — the Tigers hired him, and he’s now entering his sixth season.
Cora and Hinch were forgiven almost immediately. Beltran has spent longer in purgatory, working for that second chance, but it should be coming in the not-too-distant future.
“If I’m managing and AJ is managing, why can’t he manage?” Cora told Newsday. “I know his heart is in his academy [in Puerto Rico] and his family. But the older the kids get, he’ll probably get that itch. He’s going to come back, and he’ll be a good one.
“With everything that went on the last few years, with the Hall of Fame, people had doubts about him, with the media and all that. But he’s checked that box already.
“I think it’s going to be a great year for him. I’m glad that he’s been able to — like some of us — to get up from where we were, keep our head high, walk with pride and do the things that we do.”
For Beltran, one of those things is going to include being a manager again, for real, and not just holding the title. Probably sooner rather than later.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
