On Tuesday evening, more details came to light about Carlos Beltran's involvement in the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal.
Beltran was the only player mentioned by name in the MLB report on the Astros' investigation, and a new report from The Athletic has gone into more detail regarding Beltran's role.
Here are some findings of the report, which was written by Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich, with reporting from Marc Carig:
- Beltran helped create the Astros' sign-stealing system, and his Hall-of-Fame-worthy playing resumé may have kept players quiet from saying anything about the team's methods. Beltran reportedly told the Astros after arriving in Houston that the Astros' sign-stealing methods were "behind the times."
"In that context, Beltrán, along with former bench coach Alex Cora, became a driving force behind the trash-can banging system that marked a culmination of the Astros' use of electronics to steal signs illegally."
- Former Yankee and Brave Brian McCann was one of the players in the Houston locker room who objected to what the Astros were doing. As SNY MLB Insider Andy Martino has previously reported, McCann did not take part in the Astros' sign-stealing system. The Athletic reports that McCann approached Beltran to ask him to stop.
- Once Beltran retired and joined the Yankees front office, whenever he was asked about what the Astros "were doing down there," he would respond by saying it was "Nothing no one else was doing."
- As Martino has previously reported, the Yankees found Cora's comments about Beltran prior to the London series more than a bit curious.
"I was joking with someone that (the Yankees') biggest free-agent acquisition was Carlos Beltrán," Cora said, with a big wink. "I know how it works, you know? He's helping a lot. They're paying attention to details and we have to clean our details."
"It was eye-opening the last few days, from top to bottom," Cora continued. "And I'm not saying devices and all that stuff, it's just stuff that the game will dictate and will scream at people and is right there. Throughout the evening, I was looking and I saw it, you know? And right now, they're a lot better than us, so we need to get better."