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WFAN's Gregg Giannotti was especially worked up Thursday morning about the lingering speculation regarding Mets manager Carlos Beltran's future.
Beltran has been linked to the Astros' sign-stealing scandal, which has resulted in the firings of manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow. Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who was the bench coach on the 2017 Astros and is wrapped up in a separate cheating scandal from his time in Boston, was also fired this week.
Beltran was the only player from Houston's World Series-winning team named in Commissioner Rob Manfred's investigative report this week, but he was not disciplined by MLB, which set its sights on the team's higher-ups.
Now the Mets must decide if they will fire Beltran, whom they just hired in November, or retain him and weather the storm of criticism. ESPN's Buster Olney reported Wednesday that the Mets are "wavering" on whether they should stick with Beltran.
In a lively rant on the "Boomer and Gio" show, Giannotti said that the Olney report made it feel to him as though the winds had shifted and that Beltran would be fired, a move Gio is firmly opposed to.
"You cannot, if you are the Mets, fire Carlos Beltran," Giannotti said. "Have some conviction with your hire, have some stones and stick with the guy. And if you're one of these people like Mark Teixeira, like people who call this radio station, fans of other teams or even a Mets fan that says that there's no way that Carlos Beltran can stick around 'cause he's a cheater, then turn your anger to all of the players that were involved and then call for their heads, too."
Rich Schultz/Getty Images Managers are "surrounded by the same guys every day," Giannotti said. "You're telling me every day that Mike Puma and Kristie Ackert and whoever's surrounding this team and Steve Gelbs and all the same gaggle of dudes and people are going to be around Carlos Beltran (constantly asking), 'Hey, what about the sign-stealing thing?' ... It will be over if the Mets handle it the right way, which is keep him, hold a press conference, have him stand there for an hour, two hours, three hours, however long it takes and have him tell the truth about what happened. Let everybody exhaust every question out of their system, and that's it."
Gio wasn't done venting.
"Here's another thing that I've heard I don't know how many times: 'Well, if the Mets do well, everybody's going to assume that they're cheating,'" he said. "If you're an idiot you'll assume that they're cheating! If you're brain dead! Because Carlos Beltran, after all of this, if he keeps his job, do you think he's going to set up some camera system to steal signs for the Mets in 2020? If he does, fire him at that point. Show me the proof, and then Carlos Beltran turns into the dumbest guy on earth."
Giannotti said he doesn't blame the Mets for not yet deciding Beltran's future but wishes the team had released some sort of statement at least saying it is gathering information and will make an announcement when it has reached a decision it's comfortable with.
"But I hope the Mets stand up to this and do not cave," he said. "The Mets didn't hire Carlos Beltran because he knew how to steal signs. The Mets hired him because they thought he was going to be a good manager who could collaborate, as (general manager) Brodie (Van Wagenen) always says, with the players and he was someone who could take them to the next level, something that Mickey Callaway could not. If you still believe that, then keep him there."
To listen to the open from Thursday's "Boomer and Gio," click on the audio player above.