Mets Hire Carlos Beltran as Manager

The New York Mets have settled on a manager. The Mets have named Carlos Beltran as the franchises’ 22^nd field manager on Friday afternoon, ending a month long search for Mickey Callaway’s replacement.

 

Beltran played seven seasons with the Mets from 2005 to 2011 where he hit .280 with 149 homers and 559 RBI, establishing himself as one of the game’s best center fielder’s of his era.

In fact Beltran held the franchise record for home runs in a season (41 in 2006) until this past season when Pete Alonso blasted 53 homers his rookie year.

Beltran comes back to the Mets, the only team he wished to manage in this year’s managerial cycle, have little to no coaching experience. He retired from playing in 2017 after serving as a bench player for the Houston Astros when the won the World Series that year. He got a lot of credit as being a defacto “player-coach” during his stay in Houston.

After retiring, the Yankees picked up on that high praise,  and seriously considered making Beltran the successor to Joe Girardi before settling on Aaron Boone. Instead, Beltran got the role as a special advisor to GM Brian Cashman, a position he held the past two seasons.

With no coaching or managerial experience under his belt, the hiring of Beltran echoes a common trend in baseball, where experience means very little. The front office runs the day-to-day operations of the team from the General Manager’s office and his analytics team. Beltran’s job, in this case, is to disseminate what Van Wagenen wants.

Unlike Joe Girardi, who would have been a confrontational presence for Van Wagenen, the Mets General Manager goes with a safe choice, picking a manager who A) will be agreeable to suggestions from the front office, and B) is remembered fondly by Mets fans, which lowers the blow of negativity had he selected Eduardo Perez, for example.

This does not mean Beltran can’t be a good manager. As someone who is recently retired, he will have the respect of many of his players who are probably familiar with his feats on the field.

That being said, Beltran has to establish a culture of winning when he walks in the door. He has to be the commanding presence in the dugout that the Mets desperately need, especially in a division where the Nationals, Braves and Phillies are all World Series contenders.

Beltran wanted this job badly. He has spoken openly about wanting to manage a baseball team, and now will be his chance on the biggest stage of them all. The first order of business for Beltran will be hiring a solid coaching staff, especially a veteran bench coach and pitching coach that can help guide him along the process.