Luis Rojas, Mets manager, condemned the behavior of former performance coordinator Ryan Ellis in New York, but said he never witnessed the inappropriate performance of his longtime co-worker. Ellis was fired last month for sexual harassment.
Athletic reported on Wednesday that in the summer of 2018, three Mets employees complained to human resources that Ellis, who was then the minor league coordinator, had addressed obscure comments to them in person and by text message.
Ellis, promoted to the major league technical staff last summer, was fired last month after New York investigated the matter for the second time. His dismissal came shortly after the club fired newly hired general manager Jared Porter for sending sexually explicit, uninvited text messages and images to a journalist in 2016 while working for the Chicago Cubs.
Former Mets manager Mickey Callaway, now a Los Angeles Angels pitching coach, was suspended this month and is being investigated amid allegations of misconduct against several women working in sports media.
In a statement to The Athletic, New York said it investigated and disciplined Ellis in 2018, but did not end his work. The team said it received new information in January about Ellis ’behavior in 2017-18 and fired him on Jan. 22 for“ violating company policy and violating Mets ’standards of professionalism and personal conduct. “.
“We have set new expectations,” Rojas said from the club’s spring training complex in Port St. Louis. Lucie, Florida. “New avenues are also being added to denounce cases like this. It has been disappointing. I am sorry to see it from afar.”
Ellis, a former minor league player, was hired by the Mets as a minor league coach in 2006. Rojas joined the franchise a year later as manager of his Dominican Summer League team, and all two had been with the organization ever since, spending most of it. time in the minor leagues.
Rojas took over as New York manager in January 2020 after Carlos Beltran was fired 77 days from his term for his role in the 2017 Houston Astros cheating scandal. Ellis joined the staff of the big league for the regular season shortened by pandemic after retiring coach Chili Davis. Ellis was with the team throughout the 60-game season.
“My relationship with Ryan, having known him for years here at the Mets organization, has been strictly baseball,” Rojas said. “That’s what we had in terms of conversations.”
“These bad behaviors are simply unacceptable,” he added. “We should have a safe environment to work in, a safe workplace.”
Rojas said he had held regular video meetings with his coaching staff this offseason, and Ellis had not been part of that group because Davis will return in the 2021 season.
The women who spoke to The Athletic about Ellis described sexually explicit comments made in person and persistent and unwanted text messages of a sexual nature.
Rojas credited new owner Steve Cohen for responding quickly to complaints against Porter and Ellis and noted new reporting procedures the team established for employees to report illegal behavior, including an external hotline that allows to employees to maintain anonymity if they prefer.
Major League Baseball has adopted a similar hotline for league and team employees, which is also available for non-league employees, such as journalists.
“I’m pretty sure this kind of behavior will be something that will be unacceptable in this organization,” Rojas said. “I’ll just leave it.”