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Mets manager Luis Rojas on Wednesday condemned the behavior of former New York performance coordinator Ryan Ellis but said he had never seen his long-time colleague act inappropriately. 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, then minor-league strikes coordinator, had made lewd comments to them in person and via text.
Ellis, who was promoted to the Big League coaching 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 and uninvited texts and images to a reporter in 2016 while working for the Chicago Cubs. .
Former Mets manager Mickey Callaway, now Los Angeles Angels pitching coach, was suspended this month and is under investigation amid allegations of inappropriate behavior towards several women who work in the Los Angeles Angels. sports media.
In a statement to The Athletic, New York said it investigated and sanctioned Ellis in 2018, but did not terminate his employment. The team said they received new information in January regarding Ellis’ behavior in 2017-18 and fired him on January 22 for “violating company policy and failing to meet standards of professionalism and personal conduct of the Mets “.
“We have set new expectations,” Rojas said from the club’s spring training complex in Port St. Lucie, Fla. “There are also new avenues added to report cases like this. It has been disappointing. I am sorry to see it from afar.”
Ellis, a former minor league infielder, was hired by the Mets as a minor league coach in 2006. Rojas joined the franchise a year later as manager of his league team. summer, and both had been with the organization ever since, spending most of that time in the minor leagues.
Rojas was hired as New York manager in January 2020 after Carlos Beltran was fired 77 days after his tenure for his role in the Houston Astros cheat scandal in 2017. Ellis joined the Big League staff for the regular season cut short by the pandemic after hitting coach Chili Davis has retired. Ellis was with the team throughout the 60-game season.
“My relationship with Ryan, having known him for years here in the Mets organization, has been strictly baseball,” Rojas said. “This is what we had in terms of the conversations.”
“These mistakes are simply unacceptable,” he added. “We have to have a safe working environment, a safe place to work.”
Rojas said he had regular video meetings with his coaching staff this offseason, and Ellis was not in that group because Davis was returning for the 2021 season.
Women who spoke to Ellis’ The Athletic described sexually explicit in-person comments and persistent, unwanted text messages that were sexual in nature.
Rojas credited new owner Steve Cohen for responding quickly to the allegations against Porter and Ellis and highlighted the new reporting procedures the team has in place for employees to report illegal behavior, including an outside hotline that allows employees to remain anonymous if they wish.
Major League Baseball has adopted a similar hotline for league and team employees that is also available to non-league employees, such as journalists.
“I am quite convinced that this type of behavior is something that is going to be unacceptable in this organization,” Rojas said. “I’ll just leave it at that.”
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