David Lennon: Carlos Beltran's role as Mets icon fits him better than a possible managerial stint
Carlos Beltran gives his Mets' Hall of Fame Induction speech before a game between the Mets and the Phillies at Citi Field on Saturday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Carlos Beltran was convincing in the role of Mets icon when his No. 15 was unveiled Saturday in the Citi Field rafters.
He’s a no-doubt Hall of Famer, at least in this BBWAA voter’s judgment, but Beltran’s Flushing tenure is best described as brilliant yet complicated, and his 20-year career was punctuated by a cheating scandal with the Astros.
As a result, it took Beltran four tries to be green-lighted for Cooperstown. Doing so with a Mets cap put him at the podium Saturday, freshly minted for franchise immortality.
“I’m proud to say I was and always will be a New York Met,” Beltran said in his closing remarks, rallying the fans to his side one last time.
But here’s our next question: Is Beltran a candidate to be the Mets’ next manager?
It’s hard to say, which means there’s enough gray area to suggest no.
Beltran wouldn’t commit to the idea when pressed on the subject before taking the field for Saturday’s ceremony. With the Mets currently operating under the presumption that interim manager Andy Green will return to his front-office gig, president of baseball operations David Stearns and owner Steve Cohen have said there will be an extensive search for his permanent replacement.
Images from Carlos Beltran's number retirement and induction into the Mets' Hall of Fame on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, at Citi Field. Credit: Jim McIsaac
However, I believe Green not only will be in the managerial mix at season’s end but will be considered a frontrunner for the job based on his existing relationship with Stearns and the way he’s handled the Mets’ next generation of building blocks.
As for Beltran, there’s a dwindling rationale for him to take over the manager’s seat, mainly because he seems content in an advisory role that gives him more flexibility for other areas of his life.
That came up when I asked Beltran before Saturday’s ceremony if he’d be interested in the managerial position that — at the moment — is expected to be vacant at season’s end.
“Right now, I love what I’m doing,” he said. “The opportunity the Mets are giving me to be part of the organization and to be able to comment on the things that I experienced as a ballplayer hopefully continue to add value to the decisions that they’re making.
“Being a manager in Major League Baseball is a huge commitment. A very, very huge commitment. I’m not saying that I’m not willing to take that commitment, but right now, at the position where I am today in life, I love to be a dad, I love to be a husband, I love to be involved in the Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy. Being a manager, you would not be able to do that full-time.”
Just because the timing doesn’t seem right for Beltran for this particular opening doesn’t mean he shouldn’t try again down the line, because it’s really the last box left in the game for him to check off.
Beltran has achieved everything else, picking up a World Series ring with the Astros in 2017 — one that should have been won with the Mets in 2006 — and there’s no way he can sit on his 76-day stay as manager before the Wilpons had to fire him in 2020 a month before spring training was set to begin.
By now, Beltran has put that sign-stealing stain behind him, as well as his once-combustible relationship with Mets fans. He made numerous references Saturday to his early friction with the Flushing crowds, and as far as being a manager again, why would he want to jeopardize his good standing by putting a bull’s-eye next to his No. 15 again?
He’s well aware of how life in a Mets uniform can turn more quickly than a New York minute, and he got an updated reminder when former manager Carlos Mendoza was booted out the door in late June less than two years after guiding the Mets to within two wins of a World Series trip.
As the Hall of Famer mentioned, it’s pretty good just being Carlos Beltran these days. Just showing up means a standing ovation — and for those of us who were there during his debut season, after he signed that seven-year, $119 million contract in 2005, rest assured that it’s been a remarkable reversal of fortune for Beltran to arrive at Saturday’s adoration from the Citi Field crowd.
“It’s closure for sure,” he said. “The passion of the Mets organization and the Mets fans is a legitimate one. It’s one that you could feel. You could ask any player that have come from different organizations and have played for the Mets. It’s a real deal, and there is a process you got to go through.”
Beltran credited his wife, Jessica, for helping him through some of that Flushing turbulence, which was not easily shrugged off by such a prideful five-tool star in the prime of his career.
“She used to say to me, ‘Hey Carlos, don’t worry, it’s not personal,’ ” Beltran recalled with a smile Saturday. “Yeah, but it feels personal. They’re pointing at me.”
Now people will be pointing at the No. 15, high above leftfield, inspired by a much different feeling, one that Beltran might have deserved more of during his Mets career. That would be admiration.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
