What had been a dream offseason for the Mets took a strange and troubling turn late Monday night, when an ESPN report came out detailing the explicit, unsolicited texts newly named GM Jared Porter had sent an unnamed female reporter in 2016 while he was working for the Cubs.
By Tuesday morning, Porter was fired, five weeks after he was introduced as the Mets’ GM.
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There was no denial on Porter’s side and the evidence is damning. The potential creepiness factor and feeling of invincibility of guys in power can never be underestimated, as society constantly reminds us. This is obviously not an issue specific to baseball, but in many ways the game is still an old boys club, and it’s concerning that two “well-regarded” executives like Porter and former Astros assistant GM Brandon Taubman (in October 2019) felt comfortable enough to follow their impulses with seemingly no fear of consequences.
The Mets are now without a general manager, though team president Sandy Alderson could run the show without one. This is the second straight year the Mets have fired a high-ranking employee in mid-January amid a scandal. A year ago this week, they fired manager Carlos Beltran (hired two months earlier) because of his participation in the Astros’ sign-stealing operation.
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