THE BLACK MARKS OF BASEBALL & 2ND CHANCES: PART 3

This wasn't supposed to be the last uniform that Carlos Beltran was supposed to wear after his playing days were over. He had plans for the next big phase of his baseball life. It was time to transition from playing to managing. He was supposed to put on a Mets uniform.

This was supposed to be Beltran's future. He was ready. The Mets were ready....but maybe baseball won't be ready. A little more than two months after Beltran was named the next Mets manager the Mets realized this wasn't going to work. He was going to be too much of a distraction after the world learned he was a mastermind in the Astros cheating scandal. The Mets had nothing to do with that, but keeping Beltran as their leader made them part of a scandal. Who wants that?

So here he is the last piece of a complicated management puzzle. He's last the BLACKMARK of baseball and I think his future is more uncertain than disgraceful Alex Cora or weak A.J. Hinch. Those two had a chance to manage, they at least had a track record....Beltran never got his chance because he blew it.

I think it is fair to say he blew it. After Beltran won his tainted World Series ring in 2017, he was ready for his next opportunity. The Yankees made the decision not to bring back Joe Girardi and started interviewing for their next skipper. They gave Beltran an interview, insiders said the Yankees were actually impressed with him, but they ultimately gave the job to Aaron Boone.

The Yankees must've liked what they heard in his interview. He played for the Yankees from 2014-2016, so they knew what he could do as a player. He wasn't chosen for manager but the Yankees hired him as a special assistant to Brian Cashman which got him closer to his managing dream.

Beltran finally got his chance in November 2019, when he was named Mets manager. Not even two weeks after being named manager, Beltran denies his involvement in the Astros cheating scandal HERE. In January Rob Manfred releases his report on the Astros cheating scandal where Beltran is named as a mastermind in the scandal. He isn't formally punished because all players are given immunity, which we are all still mad about.

And the Mets at that point had to cut ties with Beltran. The pictures of Beltran introduced in his Mets uniform again, but this time as a manager may be the last. Beltran never led a team practice, made an appearance at Spring Training, or stepped in the dugout as skipper. Will the pictures be his only management moment?

I think they could be. Hinch and Cora have something Beltran don't....a track record. Cora's may not be long, but he got to the World Series and won whether you believed they cheated to get there or not. Beltran has not, he never established that credibility.

No credibility, and he finished off a great career in shame. He cheated. He cheated and won a tainted ring. That is his legacy, no matter how brilliantly baseball minded he may be. That is something people will remember. It's a reputation teams will remember and maybe want to forget and never take a chance on.

So Beltran never got punished as a player. I still don't agree with it but....maybe if he never gets to manage like he wants that would be the punishment?

I think Beltran would have been a good manager, I really do. But we may never know now and if that is the case I am okay with that. He made bad choices. Those choices would be distractions to future opportunities in baseball. It would be bad for baseball.

The last BLACKMARK with no managing credibility. Hell, no credibility at all now in my opinion. So does that deserve a second chance? Why or why not? Tell us.

--Jeana Bellezza
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj