The New York Mets fired general manager Jared Porter after he admitted sending obscene text messages to a reporter, owner Steve Cohen announced on Monday. “There must be zero tolerance for this type of behavior,” said Cohen in a tweet.
Porter sent text messages and graphic and uninvited images to the reporter in 2016, when he worked for the Chicago Cubs in his office, ESPN reported Monday night. Porter sent dozens of texts to the woman, concluding with an image of “an erect, naked penis,” according to the report. ESPN said it obtained a copy of the text’s history.
New York hired Porter, 41, last month. He agreed to a four-year contract after spending the past four seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks as senior vice president and assistant general manager.
“I spoke directly with Jared Porter about the events that took place in 2016, of which we were informed this evening for the first time. Jared acknowledged to me his serious error of judgment, took responsibility for his conduct, expressed remorse and has already apologized for his actions, ” Mets President Sandy Alderson said in a statement before Porter was fired.
/ AP
The woman was not identified in the report. ESPN said it opted to perform recently only on condition of anonymity because it is afraid of reactions in its country.
ESPN said the woman was a foreign correspondent who moved to the United States to cover the Major League Baseball. She met Porter in an elevator at Yankee Stadium in June 2016 and said that they briefly talked about international baseball and exchanged business cards. She told ESPN that it was the only time they spoke.
After exchanging messages that started casually, Porter began to praise his appearance, inviting her to meet him in different cities and asking why she was ignoring him, ESPN said.
After he sent her an obscene photo, the woman ignored more than 60 messages from Porter before he sent the last vulgar photo, according to ESPN. The woman told ESPN that she intentionally tried to avoid him at some major league stadiums and Porter’s texts ended up contributing to his decision to leave the journalism industry and return to his country of origin.
Porter sent an apology message to the woman in 2016 after she saw the nude picture and wrote to him that her messages were “extremely inappropriate, very offensive and out of line,” reported ESPN.
ESPN said it contacted Porter on Monday night, and he acknowledged having sent a text message to the woman. At first, he said that he had not sent any pictures of himself, but when informed in the exchange program that sent selfies and other pictures, he said “the most explicit ones are not of me. These are like, like, images from jokes archives , “Reported ESPN.
After asking whether the vehicle intended to publish a story, Porter requested more time before declining further comment, ESPN said.
It’s another embarrassing development for the Mets, which energized fans by acquiring shortstop star Francisco Lindor and several other notable players since Cohen bought the Wilpon and Katz family club for $ 2.42 billion in early November.
In the last off-season, under the command of former GM Brodie Van Wagenen, the Mets hired ex-hitter Carlos Beltrán as a coach only to cut ties with him 2 ½ months later, when he was implicated in the MLB’s investigation of illegal signal theft Houston while Beltrán was an Astros player in 2017.
Beltrán was released by the Mets – without directing a single game – just over a year ago, on January 16, 2020, after a 77-day term. The ESPN report was posted online 37 days after Porter was introduced as GM of the Mets, a role he called “a dream job”, but which certainly seems to be seriously compromised now.
“Jared proved his worth at every level and position he held, earning the respect of his colleagues in baseball,” said Alderson in a statement when Porter was hired.
Prior to his tenure at Diamondbacks, Porter worked with Theo Epstein with the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs, winning three World Series championships at Boston headquarters and another with the Cubs. ESPN said he was the Cubs’ professional scouting director when he sent the messages to the woman.
Not entirely familiar with the English language and American culture, the woman received help from an interpreter to build a message to Porter asking him “please stop sending offensive photos or messages”. He apologized for text several times and said he would stop, ESPN reported.
ESPN said it interviewed three other people who said they saw or were told about the texts at the time.
The woman ended up informing her bosses and was connected in 2016 with a lawyer and a Cubs employee from her home country, ESPN reported. She did not want to identify the employee publicly because she feared retaliation, according to ESPN.
She said the Cubs official told her that Porter wanted to apologize in person, but she didn’t want to see him. She said the employee repeatedly pressured her about whether she planned to file a case against Porter and months later she was angry when she saw the employee in spring 2017 training and said she was still thinking about it, ESPN reported.
ESPN said the official confirmed on Monday that he discussed the situation with Porter and the woman, but denied he was angry. The woman did not file legal action and told ESPN that she does not plan.
“This story caught our attention tonight and we are not aware that this incident has been reported to the organization,” said the Cubs in a statement given to ESPN late on Monday.
“If we had been notified, we would have acted quickly, as the alleged behavior violates our code of conduct,” said the club. “Although these two individuals are no longer with the organization, we take sexual harassment issues seriously and plan to investigate the matter.”
New York quickly moved from Beltrán last winter to quality control technician Luis Rojas, who led the Mets to a 26-34 record during the 2020 shortened pandemic season. They finished tied with Washington last in the NL East and lost the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year. Rojas is expected to return this season.
Cohen brought back Alderson, the 2010-18 Mets general manager, as chairman of the team and immediately dismissed Van Wagenen and several of his top office advisers.
The team initially sought to hire a baseball operations president, but changed course when they failed to obtain permission to interview several candidates around the majors and at least one did not want to move to New York.
Instead, 73-year-old Alderson took over baseball operations, and the idea was that Porter would potentially grow in that role while reporting to Alderson.
“I think what we talk about most is just a cultural change to begin with,” said Porter when introduced as GM last month. “Adding good people to the organization. Improving the organizational culture.”