Yahoo Finance Mets did not consult women in hiring Jared Porter, will not immediately replace fired GM
The New York Mets did not speak to any women in the process of hiring Jared Porter, who was fired as GM Tuesday after a report Monday night alleged he sexually harassed a female reporter in 2016.
Sandy Alderson, the team president, said Tuesday afternoon that “one of the unfortunate circumstances” in MLB is a dearth of women to consult when vetting job candidates. (The Marlins’ Kim Ng became the first woman hired as a GM earlier this offseason.)
Sandy Alderson said they got all glowing reviews of character in interview process with Jared Porter. So I asked if they consulted any women. He said no.
— Hannah Keyser (@HannahRKeyser) January 19, 2021
He also told reporters that the team will not immediately hire a replacement for Porter, who filled the GM role for only 37 days. He noted that recently hired assistant GM Zack Scott would remain a prominent voice in the front office.
A report by ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Mina Kimes detailed allegations that Porter — then working for the Chicago Cubs — sent more than 60 unanswered texts to a foreign correspondent covering MLB in 2016, including a lewd photo of an erect penis.
Porter, 41, admitted texting the woman and initially denied sending the woman any photos when asked by ESPN, but later said that “the more explicit ones are not of me. Those are like, kinda like joke-stock images.”
New Mets owner Steve Cohen — whose purchase of the team set off a reconfiguration of the front office that brought back Alderson as president and eventually lured Porter — announced he had terminated Porter on Twitter Tuesday morning. Reports indicate MLB is also opening an investigation into Porter’s actions.
In a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Alderson said Porter’s behavior was “abhorrent and not tolerable in any form." He said a brief phone call with Cohen led to the decision to fire Porter. “We agreed the only course of action here was to terminate Jared.”
He echoed statements the Mets and Cubs had issued Monday night, saying the team was not aware of the allegations before making the hire.
“I'm very sorry for the woman involved. It's an unfortunate set of circumstances we weren't aware of at the time Jared was hired,” Alderson said. “Suffice it to say, had we known about it in advance before Jared was hired, it would have been a disqualification.”
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