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If Carlos Beltran were to go after the sign theft this past offseason, then Jared Porter has to go now if the facts in ESPN’s history are true and the new Mets GM in 2016 sent a barrage of messages. unsolicited text with obscene accents to a reporter.
Beltran committed a baseball felony and never made it to his first opening day as a manager. It would be an offense against decency, power dynamics, and common sense on the part of someone who wielded far more organizational power than Beltran would have.
The bombshell that turned the Steve Cohen administration’s welfare surge into a Wilpon-style free fall came late Monday night. ESPN’s story, which protected the anonymity of the foreign correspondent, detailed a period when Porter was the Cubs’ professional scouting director in 2016 when he sparked a barrage of texts on the reporter, new to the States. United and covering the MLB. . The text stream that spanned months included attempts to meet away from the baseball stadium and photos of a man wearing pants with a bulge in the groin area and also a bare, erect penis.
ESPN featured screenshots of some of the roughly 60 texts and images that had a relentless tone. Porter did not respond to a request for comment from The Post. In ESPN’s story, he first said he never uploaded photos, but when told there were selfies too, he told ESPN: “Most explicit are not mine. These are like, kind of like stock images of jokes.
In part of his statement, Mets team president Sandy Alderson said, “I spoke directly with Jared Porter about the events that took place in 2016 which we were made aware of tonight for the premiere. times. Jared admitted to me his serious error in judgment, took responsibility for his conduct, expressed remorse, and previously apologized for his actions.
Alderson concluded, “We will follow up as we examine the facts about this serious issue.”
But there really isn’t much to do here. If Porter told Alderson that it was all about his lyrics and his images, then he couldn’t be the general manager of the Mets anymore.
Beltran was fired as a manager almost exactly a year ago, days after being the only player named in the commissioner’s report into the Astros’ illegal sign theft. The Mets decided it was untenable to continue with a manager who they said would be overwhelmed year round by questions about, among other things, his integrity.
So how can the Mets move forward with Porter if these claims turn out to be true? Not at this time. Not for this organization. Not if you read text messages.
Arguably this is a new diet, not the one that was in charge last year during the Beltran debacle.
But this new regime is led by Cohen, who has faced his own “Me Too” allegations at his company Point72 Asset Management; allegations which were part of the concerns of some owners in approving the purchase of the Mets by Cohen, which was ultimately successful.
Cohen hired Alderson, in part, because of Alderson’s solid reputation for straightness. He was going to be the guy who helped clean up Cohen’s image. Except now Alderson’s first major hire has made it seem like the owner has changed, but the Mets haven’t. They couldn’t find anyone to fill the position of president of baseball operations despite Cohen’s promise of every dollar to change the tenor of the franchise. So the Mets turned to hiring a general manager and after a search, Alderson landed at Porter, 41, on December 13.
We have to assume that the Mets asked Porter if there was anything in his past that would cause trouble or embarrassment. Alderson said in his statement that the Mets learned of the alleged transgressions on Monday. So, we can assume that Porter told the Mets that nothing was right. But Porter knew his behavior with the woman (who quit journalism) was bad because the texts show attempted apologies.
Should the Mets have known this by examining Porter? It’s hard to pin down. Porter left the Cubs after their 2016 championship to become an assistant general manager for the Diamondbacks and that was not the case. Porter had interviewed for a myriad of general manager positions, finishing a runner-up for the Angels job before eventually landing with the Mets. He had a good reputation in the sport for being friendly, hardworking and fanatic when it came to accumulating information about players.
But the Mets know what they have in front of them now. If Porter told them, yes, these are my texts and, yes, I sent these photos, then how does an organization that wants to shout it’s a new day hold him back?
Cohen insisted that integrity would be at the heart of Mets’ activities at his property. These can’t just be words meant to clean up an image. He is facing the first crisis of a property which, for nearly three months, has floated on Cohen’s goodwill for Cohen’s willingness to spend money on gamers and participate in light jokes via Twitter. .
But this problem cannot be passed or dismissed with a witty Tweet. No, if these allegations detailed in ESPN’s story are true, Cohen and Alderson have only one choice.
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