KC Royals: 6 potential Mike Matheny replacements

Would the KC Royals consider hiring Carlos Beltran to manage the club?

Sure to be mentioned as a potential successor to Mike Matheny when the time comes is Carlos Beltran.

The idea is, if nothing else, intriguing.

Hiring Beltran would reunite the Royals with one of their biggest former stars, one whose departure from Kansas City via a blockbuster midseason trade during the 2004 campaign was occasioned not by poor performance (far from it, considering the 123 homers, 516 RBIs, 164 steals and .287 average he amassed during seven Royal seasons), but instead by financial expediency.

Beltran was wildly popular in Kansas City, so bringing the veteran of 20 major league campaigns could energize a fanbase searching for reasons to be optimistic about the future.

There is, of course, an elephant in the room, a potential obstacle to hiring Beltran to succeed Matheny … or any other KC manager for that matter.

Beltran’s baggage is his implication in the Houston cheating scandal of 2017. He was the only Astro named in Commissioner Rob Manfred’s report of Major League Baseball’s investigation of the infamous matter, one which clearly led to the reportedly mutual decision of the Mets and Beltran to end his stint as the team’s manager before he skippered even a spring training game.

Can all that outweigh any interest the Royals might have or develop in Beltran?