Just after the one year anniversary of Carlos Beltran’s sudden firing, the New York Mets fired Jared Porter immediately after his disgusting and inappropriate messages/images to a former female journalist. Steve Cohen acted quickly on his decision, keeping to his word of changing the culture in Flushing.
We have terminated Jared Porter this morning . In my initial press conference I spoke about the importance of integrity and I meant it.There should be zero tolerance for this type of behavior.
— Steven Cohen (@StevenACohen2) January 19, 2021
The conversation originally began as friendly but quickly moved to the point that made the journalist uncomfortable. Porter sent 62 consecutive messages, including multiple inappropriate photos to a former foreign correspondent covering the sport. It got to a point where she purposely hid from Porter when they were in the same venue. It lingered in her life to a point where it became part of why she stopped working as a journalist.
In an offseason where Kim Ng and Bianca Smith were hired to groundbreaking positions, we are reminded of this behavior’s harsh reality continuing to riddle professional sports. Steve Cohen made the right call by firing him first thing in the morning and refusing to let it linger in the organization. Mets fans are familiar with the past ownership allowing scandals to stain their team’s reputation.
The typical rebuttal is “he should get a second chance after admitting to it,” and it is always wrong. His behavior is inexcusable and deserves consequences. Porter’s professional baseball career is likely over and needs to face the poor choices he made.
As the Mets move forward to spring training, Zack Scott will likely become the next general manager.