Mets GM Jared Porter -- A Former Red Sox Executive -- Fired For Sending Explicit Texts, Photos To Reporter In 2016
BOSTON (CBS) -- The New York Mets fired general manager Jared Porter on Tuesday morning, just hours after an ESPN story revealed that he had sent explicit, unsolicited texts to a female reporter while with the Chicago Cubs in 2016.
Porter, whom the Mets hired as their general manager on Dec. 13, 2020, spent 12 years in the Red Sox front office from 2004-12. Porter was Chicago's director of professional scouting at the time of the texts.
According to ESPN's report, Porter sent a number of texts to a foreign correspondent who had moved to the United States. It started as a casual relationship with Porter sending her selfies and asking her out numerous times. She stopped texting back when Porter sent a suggestive picture of his groin area, and she had ignored 60 messages from him when he sent a photo of a naked, erect penis.
Porter did not deny texting the woman when ESPN reached out to him for a comment, though he initially said he did not send any pictures. When told that ESPN had images of his texts, he responded that "the more explicit ones are not of me. Those are like, kinda like joke-stock images."
The Mets acted swiftly on Tuesday morning, with team owner Steven Cohen announcing Porter's termination on Twitter.
We have terminated Jared Porter this morning . In my initial press conference I spoke about the importance of integrity and I meant it.There should be zero tolerance for this type of behavior.
— Steven Cohen (@StevenACohen2) January 19, 2021
The woman with whom Porter was texting has since left the business. She had reached out to the Cubs in 2016 about Porter's actions and a team employee who was from her home country "encouraged her use the situation to her advantage," according to ESPN's report. In a statement to ESPN, the Cubs said they just learned about Porter's actions Monday evening. Had they known at the time, the organization "would have taken swift action as the alleged behavior is in violation of our code of conduct."
Porter has several ties to Massachusetts, with his family moving to Duxbury when he was 15. He attended Thayer Academy in Braintree and Bowdoin College in Maine, graduating in 2003 with a degree in history. He interned with the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod League in 2002 and 2003 before becoming a Red Sox intern in 2004. He worked his way up in the organization, becoming Boston's director of professional scouting in 2012.