Carlos Beltran will do his first game for the YES Network on Monday, on the call for the Yankees-Phillies game at Steinbrenner Field. An hour prior to first pitch, YES will also premiere a CenterStage with Beltran, where, as broken Sunday, Beltran discusses the Astros’ cheating scandal and admits his role in what happened back in 2017.
There have been questions about how Beltran can go about his role as a YES analyst with that scandal hanging over his head, but on Sunday, Aaron Judge had a simple synopsis: there’s no apology or discussion needed in the Yankees’ clubhouse.
"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."
Judge was the AL Rookie of the Year in 2017, but lost out on the MVP vote to Jose Altuve, and Altuve’s Astros beat Judge’s Yankees in an epic seven-game ALCS where the home team won every game.
The slugger was then one of the players most vocal towards Beltran and the Astros after news of the scandal broke a couple years back, himself asserting Houston didn’t earn their 2017 title.
"Looking back now, yes, we did cross the line," Beltran said during the interview set to air Monday. "We all did what we did. Looking back, we were wrong."
Judge appreciates the admission, and would “love” to talk to Beltran – a chance he may have gotten by the time you read this, given he’s in the lineup for Monday’s game.
"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,” Judge said. “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."
That conversation, though, wouldn’t be about 2017, because Judge is focused on the future, not the past.
"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."
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
Follow WFAN on Social Media
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch