Mets fire GM Jared Porter after he confirmed report he sent harassing texts to female reporter

Porter on Monday night confirmed an ESPN report that, while he was the Chicago Cubs’ director of professional scouting, he had sent message to a female foreign correspondent who had moved to the United States to cover Major League Baseball. One of the messages contained an image of an erect penis.

Porter initially told ESPN that he had sent no pictures of himself, but, when told that he had sent selfies and other images, he acknowledged sending them. “The more explicit ones are not of me,” he told ESPN, which said it had reviewed the texts. “Those are like, kinda like joke-stock images.”

Porter, 41, was hired by the Mets on Dec. 13.

“I have spoken directly with Jared Porter regarding events that took place in 2016 of which we were made aware tonight for the first time,” Mets President Sandy Alderson said Monday in a statement to the network. “Jared has acknowledged to me his serious error in judgment, has taken responsibility for his conduct, has expressed remorse and has previously apologized for his actions. The Mets take these matters seriously, expect professional and ethical behavior from all of our employees, and certainly do not condone the conduct described in your story.”

The relationship began, according to ESPN, when Porter invited the woman to meet him in various cities and asked why she was ignoring him. Text messages show she stopped replying to him after he sent an image of pants with a bulge in the groin area.

The woman, who was not named by ESPN, met Porter in person only once and the two exchanged business cards in a Yankee Stadium elevator in June 2016. According to the network, she believed the relationship was a typical one between a reporter and a source. The messages were obtained by ESPN in 2017, but it did not report the story because the woman, who is not from the United States and is not fluent in English, feared reprisal from Porter.

“Being alone in a different country made it tougher,” she told ESPN through an interpreter. “I didn’t know who to trust and rely on.”

The woman no longer works in journalism, according to ESPN.

In their messaging, the woman sent a photo of herself, something she said was not unusual in her country. The two had attempted to meet and as the plans kept falling through, Porter send a flurry of texts. In all, there were 62 that were unanswered and included seven photos between July 19 and Aug. 10.

After she showed the messages to an interpreter and a player from her country, according to ESPN, they helped her write a response to Porter. “This is extremely inappropriate, very offensive, and getting out of line,” she wrote. “Could you please stop sending offensive photos or msg.”

Porter apologized in a series of messages, sending the last from Dodger Stadium a day later, according to the report.

The woman eventually told her supervisors, who referred her to a lawyer and a Cubs employee from her homeland. She told ESPN that the employee informer her that Porter wanted to apologize in person, something she did not want to do, and urged her to use the situation to her advantage.

The employee confirmed for ESPN Monday that he had discussed the matter with her. Asked about her claim that she had been told to use the situation, the employee replied, “I was just listening to both. I didn’t want to ruin anything. I didn’t want to be on one side.”