The New York Mets had to deal with an unexpected situation on Tuesday. Late on Monday night, ESPN ran an article detailing offensive, sexually-explicit messages and pictures that the now-former general manager Jared Porter sent to a female reporter back when he was with the Chicago Cubs in 2016.
As a result of the scandal and given the disturbing nature of the accusations, and the fact that Porter himself admitted he sent the photos, the Mets had no choice but to fire the executive after just 37 days in charge.
Mets president Sandy Alderson said Tuesday that the club does not plan to hire a new GM in the short term. That means he will probably make the calls when it comes to baseball operations, and that assistant GM Zack Scott will have more on his plate.
“I’m very confident in the group that we have that we can move forward and move forward effectively,” Alderson told reporters via Zoom on Tuesday afternoon.
The Mets took care of the situation
The story was published on Monday, near midnight. Steve Cohen took to his Twitter account on Tuesday morning, saying that Porter was no longer a member of the New York Mets.
“There is always a risk to hiring…. It’s hard to know anyone inside and out today. The question is, ‘Should we have known?'” Alderson said. The New York Mets president added that he was “shocked…. Eventually that gives way to disappointment and a little anger.”
“When I came here, my goal was to put a good team on the field and change the culture. We’re not going to be able to do that, change the culture, unless we have very strict and well understood approach to these situations. They’re not going to be tolerated,” the executive explained.
Porter was seen as one of the top young executives in the game when the Mets gave him the general manager job. His future is now uncertain.