Mets owners too weak to stand their ground with Beltran
By Joe Noa
Plenty of blame to go around
MLB’s report on the Houston Astros was clear, and the punishments meted out were merited. To his credit Astros owner, Jim Crane accepted the sanctions without a fight. I would argue, however, that MLB should accept some of the blame for allowing this cheating culture to be operational since 2017. The league could have been much more proactive than it was.
In the end, this is a case of MLB being reactive to the introduction of electronic technology into the game without a way to monitor and supervise it. In effect, they didn’t have a plan to maintain the integrity of the game. Instead, it took a whistleblower talking to a reporter for the league to investigate a scheme that occurred three years ago.
Where were the MLB officials at the ballpark to make sure cheating like this is not happening? On several occasions, the Astros were confronted by personnel from other organizations. Surely MLB could afford to employ the necessary personnel at games who could walk into both dugouts and clubhouses to may sure everything is on the up and up?
The Wilpons could have kept Beltran if they chose to. After all, it was a Houston issue, not a Mets issue. I believe he is a good family man and a man of faith who had the respect of many of the Mets players as well as many key people in baseball. But this doesn’t matter when weak owners can’t face the media.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below or on social media.