Carlos Beltran has been painted as one of the masterminds behind the elaborate cheating scheme that was in place with the Houston Astros during the 2017 season, and many have wondered if he taught some of his methods to the New York Yankees last year. According to Brian Cashman, the Yankees had no involvement in anything like that.
Cashman had high praise for Beltran when speaking with reporters on Friday, calling the former Yankees special advisor a “good person” and a “gentle giant.” When asked about the rumblings that Beltran must have shared his sign-stealing tactics with the Yankees, Cashman said his team “did things right.”
“Well Carlos Beltran was a part of our organization last year and didn’t have any influence … we did things right,” the Yankees GM said, via SNY’s Coby Green. “We asked so many people, Carlos included, because there’s been a lot of suspicion on the Houston Astros and what happened in ’17, and anybody that’s been a part of that and they kind of avoided answering the questions.”
While he stopped short of calling Beltran innocent, Cashman said he has a hard time believing the report about Beltran having “steamrolled” Astros players who did not want to adhere to his illegal system.
“I’m not saying he didn’t do anything wrong,” Cashman admitted. “Obviously the commissioner’s report speaks for itself, but in terms of forcing people to do this that or another thing, I’m having a hard time buying that, because that’s not the person that I knew as a player and not the person that I knew as our special advisor.”
Astros shortstop Carlos Correa enthusiastically defended Beltran this week against talk that Beltran pressured other players to hop aboard his cheating train, so it’s possible that report was exaggerated a bit.
As for the Yankees, many will find it hard to believe that Beltran went from being the mastermind of an elaborate cheating scheme to doing everything by the book in New York. The way Alex Cora spoke about Beltran during a press conference after the Boston Red Sox faced the Yankees last year has also led to some suspicions. Beltran and anyone associated with the 2017 Astros have lost the benefit of the doubt.
The Houston Astros are confirmed cheaters and deserve an asterisk. Send that message by wearing our Houston Asterisks T-shirt! You can buy it here:
