Yankees: Why can’t NYY hire Carlos Beltran in Aaron Boone’s place?

The Yankees clattering to around the .500 mark, unable to beat the Red Sox, Rays and Jays, has finally done it to me. I’ve gone full Joker.

If Boston’s able to bring Alex Cora back without MLB blinking and AJ Hinch is allowed a “fresh start” in Detroit, then why is Carlos Beltran — the least senior of the three, still an active player when he was convicted in the court of public opinion — the only manager still blackballed? And why isn’t he already in our dugout or front office?

Say what you will about the 2017-2021 Yankees, but they’ve very obviously been out-hustled by the Astros, Red Sox and spin-rate-loving Dodgers over the past several years. If they’re not the only clean contender, they certainly haven’t been doing “dirty” correctly.

With that in mind … why can’t Beltran replace Aaron Boone as manager, especially since the cross-town Mets no longer want anything to do with him?

Bring your niece along! Heck, we’ll take the whole family!

After all, if you liked the 2019 Yankees — and we all did — even Cora admitted that having Beltran in the Bombers’ corner was the biggest difference between that year and their previous performances.

Yankees: Why can’t Bombers replace Aaron Boone with Carlos Beltran?

Apparently, Cora’s widely-publicized quote about Beltran being the Yankees’ secret weapon wasn’t the smoking gun Astros fans wanted it to be. The Sox manager later clarified repeatedly to the New York Post’s Ken Davidoff that he wasn’t accusing Beltran of anything untoward … though perhaps Cora just didn’t want his own malfeasance to be fully known back in 2019.

"Cora went out of his way that day, first publicly and then privately, to not accuse Beltran of instituting anything illegal into the Yankees’ universe. First, in this very answer, Cora said, “I’m not saying devices, all that stuff.” While we sure as heck didn’t know about the trash-can system instituted by the 2017 Astros when Major League Baseball made its European debut, we did know about the Apple Watch the Red Sox had used that same season, which set into motion Rob Manfred’s memorandum that set into motion the massive penalties against the Astros this past week.Moreover, after Cora concluded this news conference, he sought me out to ensure I understood he wasn’t implying that Beltran was doing anything wrong."

Shoutout to Beltran if he was able to install a device-led cheating scheme in the West Ham United stadium in London, which was used for only a weekend. But we digress.

Beltran certainly brought a trend-spotting hawkish eye to the 2019 Yankees as a special advisor, and reportedly educated the team’s higher-ups on Houston’s various schemes, letting Yanks brass know they weren’t misguided in trying to combat such things.

We’re not arguing the level of participation he had in the Astros’ cheating methods vs. anybody else’s. It’s just curious that, because of the timing of his hire with the Mets in the 2020 offseason, he became the only former Astros player to face any punishment whatsoever. If the other coaches on that staff — Hinch, who claims innocence, and Cora, who…eh… — got their jobs back, or an equivalent job, why is Beltran still languishing? The Mets found themselves in a sticky situation last winter, and were able to easily cut bait. But why has Beltran’s ban been the only one to persist longer than a year?

Is this “stooping to Boston’s level”? Sure! Somewhat, knowing what little facts we do know. But is Boston upset the Red Sox are winning games at a .616 clip? Doesn’t seem like it. Is Boston running headlong into another MLB indictment? The first one didn’t take, so why would they be?

We’re not recommending the Yankees hire Beltran and start buying industrial strength trash cans wholesale for banging purposes. We’re just laying plain the fact that no one is chasing Cora, and his entire path this year has been part of a redemption narrative (though he is literally wearing a scarlet letter on his damn hat).

Someone should give Beltran a shot, and the Yankees’ best recent days came with him working his magic at the margins. Perhaps he should be brought back into the fold, at the very least.

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