If Carlos Beltran had to sign on to steal the last child, Jared Porter would now have to go if the facts in ESPN’s story were true and in 2016 the new Mets GM sent a female reporter with Lad Overton of unsolicited text messages Sent a barrage.
Beltran committed a baseball offense and never made it on his first opening day as a manager. It would be a crime against decency, mobility of power and common sense by anyone to wipe out far more organizational power than Beltran.
The bomb blast, which turned the Steve Cohen administration’s considerable momentum into a Wilfons-esque free fall, came late Monday. The story of ESPN, which protected the anonymity of the foreign correspondent, spans a period when Porter was the Cubs director of professional scouting in 2016, in which he produced a barrage of texts on the reporter, new to cover the United States and MLB . . The stream of texts that lasted months included attempts to stay away from the ballpark and pictures of a man wearing pants with a bulge in his waist area and also a nude, penis.
ESPN produced screen shots of some of the 60-odd texts and illustrations, which was a tireless tone for him. Porter did not respond to a request from the Post for comment. In the ESPN story, he initially stated that he never sent photos, but when he was told that there were selfies, he told ESPN, “The more obvious person is not me. They are like, kinda like joke-stock images. “
In part of his statement, Mets team president Sandy Alderson said, “I have spoken directly to Jared Porter about the events in 2016 that we were first exposed to tonight. Jared has acknowledged to me his grave error in judgment, has taken responsibility for his conduct, has expressed remorse and has previously apologized for his actions. “
“We will follow up after reviewing the facts about this serious issue,” Alderson said.
But there really may not be much to do here. If Porter told Alderson that they were indeed his texts and drawings, he could no longer be the Mets general manager.
Beltran was sacked as manager almost a year ago, only days after he was the only player named in the commissioner’s report on the Astros’ illegal signature theft. The Mets decided it was untenable to go with a manager who, he believed, would be overwhelmed throughout the year by questions about his integrity, among other things.
So how can Porter proceed with Porter if these allegations are proved true? Not in this time. Not for this organization. If you read the text message then no.
You could say that this is a new regime, not the one who was in charge last year during the Beltran defeat.
But this new regime has been run by Cohen, who has faced “Me Too” allegations over his Point72 asset management company; It is alleged that part of the concern by some owners in approving Cohen’s purchase of the Mets eventually passed.
Cohen hired Alderson, as Alderson had a sterling reputation for fame. He was going to be the person who helped clean up Cohen’s image. Alderson’s first significant mercenaries, except now, have realized that the owner has changed, but the Mets have not. Despite Cohen’s promise of all dollars to change the franchise’s tenure, he could not find anyone to take on the president of the baseball operations job. So the Mets were ready to hire just one GM and after a search, Alderson landed 41-year-old Porter, 13 December.
We think the Mets asked Porter if there was anything in his past that would cause problems or embarrassment. Alderson said in his statement that the Mets learned of these alleged crimes on Monday. Thus, we can assume that Porter said that the Mets were nothing. But Porter knew that his dealings with the woman (who has left journalism) were wrong as the texts try to apologize.
Should the Mets know about this through a vet? It is difficult to pin them on. Porter left the Cubs after the 2016 championship to become the assistant general manager of the Diamond 2016 and it did not come there. Porter was interviewed for a myriad of GM positions that eventually ended up as runners-up for the Angels’ job before landing with the Mets. He had a good reputation in the game for being assertive, hardworking and staunch when it came to earning information on players.
But the Mets know what is in front of them now. If Porter has told them, yes, they are my texts and yes, I sent those pictures, how does an organization want to scream that it’s a new day?
Cohen said integrity is going to be central to the Mets business he owns. They can no longer be just words designed to purify an image. He faces a first ownership crisis that has lasted nearly three months on Harmony for Cohen’s willingness to spend money on players and take part in light-hearted feasts via Twitter.
But this problem cannot be overcome or dismissed with a witty tweet. No, if the allegations detailed in ESPN’s story are true, Cohen and Alderson have the same option.
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