The New York Mets have fired CEO Jared Porter after he reportedly admitted sending obscure text messages to a journalist, homeowner Steve Cohen announced Monday. “There should be zero tolerance for this kind of behavior,” Cohen said in a tweet.
Porter sent graphic text messages and uninvited images to the reporter in 2016 while working for the Chicago Cubs in his main office, ESPN reported Monday night. Porter sent dozens of texts to the woman, concluding with an image of “an erect, naked penis,” according to the report. ESPN said it obtained a copy of the text history.
New York hired Porter, 41, last month. He agreed to a four-year contract after spending the last four seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks as senior vice president and deputy general manager.
“I spoke directly with Jared Porter about the events that took place in 2016 that we were told about tonight for the first time. Jared has acknowledged his serious error in the trial, he has taken responsibility for his conduct. , has expressed remorse and previously apologized for his actions ” Mets president Sandy Alderson said in a statement before Porter was fired.
/ AP
The woman was not identified in the report. ESPN said it chose to appear recently only on condition of anonymity because it is afraid of reactions in its home country.
ESPN said the woman was a foreign correspondent who had moved to the United States to cover Major League Baseball. He met Porter in an elevator at Yankee Stadium in June 2016 and said they talked briefly about international baseball and exchanged business cards. He told ESPN it was the only time they talked.
After the text exchanges that started by chance, Porter began to congratulate her on appearance, inviting her to meet him in different cities and asking her why she ignored him, ESPN said.
After sending her a lewd image, the woman ignored more than 60 messages from Porter before she sent him the latest vulgar photo, according to ESPN. The woman told ESPN that she tried to avoid him intentionally in a couple of major league stadiums, and Porter’s texts eventually contributed to her decision to leave the journalism industry and return to her home country.
Porter sent messages of apology to the woman in 2016 after seeing the nude photo and wrote that her messages were “extremely inappropriate, very offensive and out of line,” ESPN reported.
ESPN said it contacted Porter Monday evening and acknowledged sending messages to the woman. At first, he said he had not sent any images of himself, but when he was informed of the exchanges he sent selfies and other photographs, he said that “the most explicit ones are not from me. They are similar to joke images.” report ESPN.
After wondering if the exit was intended to post a story, Porter asked for more time before rejecting further comments, ESPN said.
It’s another embarrassing development for the Mets, who have encouraged fans by acquiring star football field Francisco Lindor and several other notable players since Cohen bought the Wilpon and Katz family club for $ 2.42 million in early November.
Last season, under former GM Brodie Van Wagenen, the Mets hired former beluger Carlos Beltrán as manager only to sever ties with him two and a half months later, when he was involved in the investigation. MLB of theft of illegal signs by Houston while Beltrán was a player of Astros. in 2017.
Beltrán was released by the Mets (without managing any games) just over a year ago, on January 16, 2020, after a 77-day term. The ESPN report was released online 37 days after Porter was introduced as GM of the Mets, a role he called “a dream job,” but which now surely appears to be in grave danger.
“Jared has proven himself at every level and in every position he has held, earning the respect of his teammates throughout baseball,” Alderson said in a statement when Porter was hired.
Prior to his Diamondbacks tenure, Porter worked under Theo Epstein’s direction with the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs, winning three World Series championships in the Boston office and another with the Cubs. ESPN said he was the Cubs ’professional Scouting director when he sent the messages to the woman.
Not fully familiar with the English language and American culture, the woman received help from an interpreter to build a message for Porter to ask him to please stop sending offensive photos or messages. He apologized for the text several times and said it would stop, according to ESPN.
ESPN said it interviewed three other people who said they saw or were informed of the texts at the time.
The woman finally informed her bosses and was connected in 2016 with a lawyer and a Cubs employee from her country, ESPN reported. According to ESPN, he did not want to publicly identify the employee because he feared retribution.
He said the Cubs employee told him Porter wanted to apologize in person, but did not want to see him. She said the employee pressured her repeatedly about whether she planned to file a lawsuit against Porter and months later she got angry when she saw the employee at spring training in 2017 and said she was still raising it, she said. report ESPN.
ESPN said the employee confirmed Monday that he discussed the situation with Porter and the woman, but denied getting angry. The woman did not take legal action and told ESPN she did not plan to.
“This story caught our attention tonight and we are not aware that this incident has ever been reported to the organization,” the Cubs said in a statement to ESPN last Monday.
“If we had been notified, we would have taken swift action as the alleged behavior violates our code of conduct,” the club said. “Even though these two people are no longer part of the organization, we take the issues of sexual harassment seriously and plan to investigate the matter.”
New York quickly passed Beltrán last winter to quality control coach Luis Rojas, who set the Mets a 26-34 record during the reduced 2020 pandemic season. They ended up tied with Washington last in the NL East and lost the playoffs for the fourth year in a row. Rojas will return this season.
Cohen brought Alderson, the 2010-18 Mets general manager, back as team president and immediately fired Van Wagenen and several of his top front office aides.
The team initially tried to hire a president of baseball operations, but changed course when it was unable to obtain permission to interview several senior candidates and at least one did not want to move to New York.
Instead, 73-year-old Alderson has taken over baseball operations and the idea was for Porter to potentially grow in that role as he reported on Alderson.
“I think what we’ve talked about the most is just a cultural change,” Porter said when he introduced himself as GM last month. “Adding good people to the organization. Improving the organizational culture.”