TAMPA, Fla, — There are plenty of things Carlos Beltran needs to do once he begins his job as a New York Yankees announcer on Monday.
Become familiar with the YES Network setting. Get comfortable alongside his broadcast teammates. Find a rhythm that works for him on air as an analyst.
One thing he doesn’t need to do, Yankees star slugger Aaron Judge said, is address the team about his role in the Houston Astros‘ sign-stealing scandal in 2017.
Beltran played for Houston that year when it beat the Yankees in the AL Championship Series on the way to its first World Series title. After news of the scandal broke much later, New York players took aim at the Astros, with Judge asserting they “cheated and you didn’t earn it.”
“In my opinion, I don’t think he needs to say anything to us,” Judge said Sunday. “I’ve got a lot of respect for Beltran, he helped me a lot during his time here as a player. Learned a lot of good lessons. He spent a lot of quality time just kind of talking to me about the game, the mental side of the game, his approaches, how to be a good teammate.”
Beltran retired as a player after the 2017 season. He played with the Yankees in 2014 and 2015 and a part of 2016.
“I’d love to talk to him,” Judge said. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen him. Just getting a chance to catch up with him and see what he’s up to because we’re to be seeing a lot of him during the year. Just looking forward to having him back around because he was a big part of this team, a big part of baseball, what he brings to the game and what he’s going to bring to the YES Network is going to be big time.”
In an interview to air Monday on the YES Network, Beltran said there is a stain on the Astros’ title.
“Looking back now, yes, we did cross the line,” Beltran said. “We all did what we did. Looking back, we were wrong.”
Beltran was named the Mets‘ manager before the 2020 season but never managed a game after being let go due to the scandal.
Judge said he is looking ahead and not back at 2017.
“I can’t speak for the whole group, but I think the things that we’ve got to focus on this year and the things we’ve got to do this year are more important than anything that happened in the past,” Judge said.
“We’ve got a lot of important things, a lot of good things going on this year, so I’m just going to focus on what we’ve got to do with that. If he sees anything, if he’s got any advice that can help us, I’ll definitely be talking to him.”