Carlos Beltran would not say Saturday whether he plans to interview for the soon-to-be-vacant New York Mets manager job, leaving his next step open on a day that already belonged to him. Asked directly about the opening, he said, “Right now, I don’t have an answer for that.”
The timing mattered because the question came as No. 15 went up at Citi Field, putting Beltran back at the center of Mets conversation in Queens. He was not trying to frame the day around the job search. “I think today I’m more worried about my speech and what I’ll say out there,” he said.
Beltran, 49, is already inside the organization as a special assistant and advisor to David Stearns, and he said the role has let him stay close to the game in a way he values. “I’m happy with what I’m doing with the Mets and having this job where I get to connect with the baseball players, connect with the coaches,” he said, adding that he wants to keep learning about the organization while he works.
That is where the uncertainty sits. He did not rule out the commitment of managing, even as he said the daily grind would pull him away from his family and philanthropic work in Puerto Rico. “I’m not saying that I’m not willing to take that commitment,” he said. For now, he is weighing a job he says he enjoys against one that would demand more of him than his current role does.
The Mets’ interest in Beltran carries history that is hard to separate from the present. He was the only player named in the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, and his Mets managerial tenure ended less than three months after he was hired in November of 2019. That makes his name a natural one to surface again, but it also explains why the decision is not simple for either side.
Support around him was not missing. Francisco Lindor said, “If he wants it and he’s there, I believe that he’s going to succeed whenever he becomes manager, if he wants to be a manager,” while Andy Green said, “I don’t think there’s a thing in the world he couldn’t do if he decided that’s what he wanted to do.” Still, Beltran’s answer on Saturday was not a yes, and not a no. Until he decides whether to pursue the opening, the Mets are left with a vacancy and a familiar name that remains on the board.
