Jared Porter was fired from the position of general manager of the New York Mets on Tuesday morning, hours after acknowledging in a report by ESPN’s Mina Kimes and Jeff Passan, that he sent unsolicited sexually explicit images to a working reporter. for Chicago Cubs as its director of pro scouting in 2016. An explicit image was the final message in a sequence of 62 consecutive unanswered texts.
“We ended Jared Porter this morning” Mets owner Steve Cohen announced on Twitter. “In my initial press conference, I spoke about the importance of integrity and was sincere. There must be zero tolerance for this type of behavior.”
Porter met the woman in an elevator at Yankee Stadium in June 2016 and asked her three times to drink before the end of the day, according to Kimes and Passan. She finally stopped responding to his text messages, but Porter continued to send text messages anyway, including sending pictures. Here is more information from Kimes and Passan, who took screenshots of the messages:
Reached by ESPN on Monday night, Porter acknowledged having sent text messages to the woman. He initially said he had not sent any pictures of him. When informed about the information exchange program that he sent selfies and other photos, he said “the most explicit ones are not mine. These are like images from the jokes archive”.
After asking if ESPN was planning to publish a story, he asked for more time before declining further comments.
Mets President Sandy Alderson released a statement on Monday and said the team will “review the facts regarding this serious problem”. Here is his full statement:
“I spoke directly with Jared Porter about 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 previously apologized for his actions.
“Mets takes these matters seriously, expects professional and ethical behavior from all our employees and certainly does not tolerate the conduct described in its history. We will follow up while we analyze the facts related to this serious problem.”
The woman, who was a foreign correspondent who lived in the United States to cover baseball, told Kimes and Passan that Porter’s abusive actions were a “tipping point” in his decision to leave the industry. “I started to ask myself, ‘Why do I have to go through these situations to make a living?” She said.
In the last off-season, Mets fired coach Carlos Beltran before he got a game because of his connection to the Astros’ plate theft scandal. Porter’s actions are much more serious and he recognized them before ESPN and Alderson.
Porter, 41, interned in baseball with the Red Sox in 2004 and remained in Boston until joining Cubs in 2015. After two years with Cubs, Porter joined Diamondbacks in 2017, and was in Arizona until he was appointed General Manager. Mets at the beginning of this off-season. Here’s a look at GM’s potential candidates for the Mets after Porter’s sudden departure.
Cohen was recently accused of using vulgar language with female employees and promoting a culture of sexism in his hedge fund in a gender discrimination complaint obtained by New York Times. Cohen’s investment firm was also accused of hostility towards women in 2018.