Despite lead role in cheating scandal, former SF Giants outfielder likely to enter Hall of Fame

Former SF Giants outfielder and 20-year veteran Carlos Beltrán received 70.3 percent of the Hall of Fame vote in his third turn on the ballot. It is a near certainty that he will get enshrined in the Hall of Fame, perhaps, as soon as next year despite his connections to the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal.

Despite lead role in cheating scandal, former SF Giants outfielder likely to enter Hall of Fame

I am not surprised at all by this, just disappointed. For years, the Hall of Fame voters have kept out players who had strong ties to PED use during that era.

Of course, they made exceptions to this rule as there are PED connections to current Hall of Famers such as Mike Piazza, Jeff Bagwell, Iván Rodríguez, and David Ortiz. It helps to be likable and chummy with the media in some of those cases.

Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens became the faces of the PED era. Both put together Hall of Fame careers before any PED ties rose to the surface. Their Hall of Fame fates were always intertwined, even if a couple of voters would select one and leave the other off the ballot.

Bonds and Clemens were the best of that era. Many, many voters overlooked the PED ties, recognizing rampant use around the league during their playing careers.

That was not enough as both fell off the ballot after the 2022 cycle. There was a late push with Bonds receiving 66.0 percent of the vote and Clemens appearing on 65.2 percent of the ballots. That was not enough as players must receive 75 percent of the vote to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Several other players with PED ties failed to gain any type of momentum with the voters. Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Rafael Palmeiro are some of the names that come to mind. Álex Rodríguez received a very small boost to 37.1 percent this year, up from 34.8 percent last year. That is not enough to suggest eventual induction.

This is all a pretty clear message to the players from the voters. The message is that any connection that undermines the integrity of the game will not merit serious Hall of Fame consideration. This is a pretty fine line in the sand.

Voters are either fine or not fine with PED use and they use their votes as an extension of what they believe. Of course, no one is fine with undermining the integrity of the game, but there is a recognition that certain players such as Bonds and Clemens were the best of their era despite the ties they had to PED use. Many voters added those players to their ballots. On the other hand, there are still many voters who cannot support players from the PED era. That is fine, too. If you cheat the game, you just cannot get into the Hall of Fame.

I just want some consistency here. You are either against cheating in all its known forms and use the Hall of Fame vote to convey that message. Or, you accept certain eras or scandals as what they are and vote accordingly.

With Carlos Beltrán, the voters are seemingly okay with his disproportionately large role in the sign-stealing scandal of 2017. The Astros had been suspected of using technology to steal signs for a few years before it even became public and investigated.

No players were even punished for what took place. The Astros fired manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Lunhow for failing to stop the scandal. The Boston Red Sox also parted ways with Alex Cora, who served as Houston's bench coach at the time of the scandal.

Lastly, Beltrán, who had just been hired as the New York Mets' manager, was let go by the club before he even managed a game when reports came out about his role in the sign-stealing scandal.

Sign stealing has been around for decades. Whether it is conveying signs from second base or the hitter peaking over at the catcher to get some insight about the next pitch, that is gamesmanship. However, hiring an intern and using technology to convey the signs to the hitter just feels so wrong and against the spirit of the game. The players knew it was wrong at the time.

They were trying to gain an unfair edge, not unlike the PED users from an era before. You can debate about the effectiveness of one versus the other, but at the end of the day, both undermine the intregrity of the game.

It does not matter that this scandal occurred at the end of Beltrán's career. The timing does not matter just as it did not matter when players from the 1990's and 2000's began using PED's. Whether they were a Hall of Famer before the scandal, that does not matter. That is the precedent the voters set in shunning Bonds and Clemens.

You know what's a shame? The 2017 Astros were probably good enough to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. They had a talented team but it is impossible to overlook how they performed at home during that series when the sign-stealing technique was leveraged. MLB should have vacated the championship even if it would have been a somewhat empty platitude. The trophy had already been raised along with the ensuing celebration.

Regardless of how the league views it, that World Series simply does not count. There was no winner that year. This is due to the scandal, and to a lesser extent, Beltrán's role.

Beltrán is probably going to reach the Hall of Fame as soon as next year. As of Monday, there were 14 voters who did not vote for Bonds and Clemens in their final turn on the ballot but included Beltrán in their ballots this year. I am not interested in pointing fingers here. That information is public.

It is just shameful that voters as recently as a few years ago were against cheating. Now, many are okay with it. This is hypocrisy. The Hall of Fame can be a hotly debated topic as people want to see their favorite players enshrined. At the end of the day, I think we can all agree that we just want some consistency with this process. The vote conveys a message. If a voter voted against PED users but is fine with Beltrán, that just does not sit right.