Suspended Mets clubhouse manager was spy for ownership?

Although well-regarded by the players, Charlie Samuels was described by sources close to the team as having polluted the clubhouse for managers, including most recently, Willie Randolph and Jerry Manuel. Baseball sources say the managers were wary of Samuels and felt he kept the team’s owners informed about on what was going on in the Mets’ clubhouse. That isn’t uncommon in baseball – the clubhouse staff works for the owners – but multiple sources describe Samuels as having an inordinate amount of power because of his relationships with the players. According to real estate records, two players – free-agent pitcher Pedro Feliciano and former Met Ambiorix Burgos – were recently linked to addresses of Samuels’ homes in Corona, Queens and Port St. Lucie. Mets reliever Francisco Rodriguez lived in Samuels’ home after a Queens judge ordered him to stay away from the mother of his children following an altercation with her father. Samuels’ lengthy tenure with the Mets is likely to end as the investigation continues and if authorities can prove he gambled illegally through the mobbed-up bookies. As the Daily News first reported, Samuels told Major League Baseball investigators that he had bet on baseball, which would lead to at least a one-year suspension under MLB’s Rule 21, which calls for the suspension for any club employee who bets on baseball games. If the employee bets on games in which he has what Rule 21 calls “a duty to perform” – in other words, if Samuels bet on Mets games – he could be banned for life. Cops also caught Samuels on tape, according to sources, placing bets and caught at least one mob associate on tape crowing about the great information Samuels was giving them. — NY Daily News