BOMBER ROLE?
A look inside what Carlos Beltran did for the Yankees during 2019 season
As the Mets let Carlos Beltran twist in the wind in the wake of his involvement with the Astros cheating scandal, there has been new scrutiny on his work with the Yankees last season. Beltran was the only player specifically named in the damning MLB report issued on Monday detailing the scheme to electronically steal signs. And now-fired Red Sox manager Alex Cora made sure that Beltran, whose skill at picking up on pitchers’ tips was wellknown throughout baseball, was tied to the 2019 Yankees by the media just last June.
MLB sources confirmed Wednesday that the Yankees are not a part of this cheating investigation, which spread from the 2017 World Series champion Astros to the 2018 World Series champion Red Sox because of Cora.
After the Yankees swept the Red Sox in the London Series last June, Cora seemed to implicate Beltran — who was serving as a special adviser to GM Brian Cashman — and the Yankees in something at least a little shady.
“I was joking with somebody that their biggest free-agent acquisition is Carlos Beltran. I know how he works. He’s helped them a lot,” said Cora after the final game there. “They’re very into details, and we have to clean our details. It was eyeopening, the last two days, from top to bottom.
“I’m not saying devices, all that stuff. It’s just stuff that the game will dictate. And we’ll scream at people, and it’s right there.”
At the time, it seemed like just a weird shoutout to a friend mixed into an answer about how his team got beat up. In hindsight, and with the knowledge of Cora and Beltran’s involvement in Houston, the comment about “devices” takes on a new light.
People within the Yankees organization, however, found it just as bizarre as people watching did.
Beltran’s skill at breaking down film of pitchers and figuring out tells is legendary in the game. Just ask former beloved former Met Bartolo Colon.
There is nothing illegal about that. The Astros crossed the line that Manfred had set in September 2017 when he fined the Yankees and Red Sox for misuse of a dugout phone and Apple watch respectively. The Astros used electronics to capture the catcher’s signs being flashed to the pitcher and relayed that information to the hitter in the box during the games. MLB’s report cited
an Astros system in which Cora had a video monitor installed to be used during the game; the players used a bat on a trash can to audibly alert the batter of the coming pitch in real time.
Beltran never revealed the Astros’ system when he was with the Yankees. Some people in the organization were even a little frustrated that he was not more forthcoming when the Yankees felt the Astros were whistling signals in the 2019 American League Championship Series.
The Yankees, who had seen first-hand Beltran’s ability to breakdown pitchers’ deliveries as a player, were certainly hoping that they would benefit from that knowledge.
To a certain degree, they did. Beltran pulled lefty James Paxton aside last May after he had been shelled by the Astros. He took Paxton into the video room and showed him what he believed the Astros were jumping on.
“I was talking to Carlos Beltran a little bit, he was in here, and he showed me some video and he said, ‘Look at these takes, look at this swing. They wouldn’t be making these swings or these takes if they didn’t know what was coming,’” Paxton said. “That being said, I also didn’t throw the ball very well. I was over the middle of the plate too much, even when there were guys not on second base, so I need to be better at that as well.”
That is completely within the rules and something Beltran did throughout his career. In fact, when he was signed by the Astros, Beltran pulled Dallas Keuchel aside and showed him some video of how he was tipping before the season.
Yankees sources said that was all they got from Beltran: the insight of a skilled player and bright baseball mind.