Fastball

Kansas City Royals, New York Mets Legend Reportedly in Line For Major Role with Puerto Rican WBC Team

Carlos Beltran, who spent 20 years in the big leagues, is reportedly the favorite to be the general manager for Team Puerto Rico.

Brady Farkas

The Florida Marlins visit the New York Mets. The Mets hope to make the wildcard as they play the last regular season game at Shea Stadium in 2008.
The Florida Marlins visit the New York Mets. The Mets hope to make the wildcard as they play the last regular season game at Shea Stadium in 2008. / Robert Deutsch, USAT via Imagn Content Services, LLC
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According to a report from Latin baseball reporter Hector Gomez, longtime major league veteran Carlos Beltran is the favorite to be the general manager for Team Puerto Rico at the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

If selected, Beltran would be in charge of picking the team. Puerto Rico has never won the World Baseball Classic, but they did advance to the final in both 2013 and 2017. They finished sixth in the tournament in 2023, a tournament that was won by Japan.

Beltran clearly has great baseball acumen, as he was hired as manager of the New York Mets before the 2020 season. However, he was fired before he ever managed a game because of his connection (as a player) to the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal. He's recently been a special assistant for the Mets.

Beltran spent 20 years as a big-league player with the Kansas City Royals, Mets, Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees, Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants. He was a nine-time All-Star, a three-time Gold Glover, a two-time Silver Slugger Award winner and a Rookie of the Year.

He received MVP awards in seven separate seasons and advanced to the playoffs in seven seasons as well. He did help the Astros win the World Series in that ill-fated 2017 season.

Should Beltran get this job, he'll have an incredible amount of talent to choose from. Puerto Rico is home to some of the best players in the world including Francisco Lindor, Edwin Diaz, Javier Baez, Enrique Hernandez, and Alexis Diaz.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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