Mets Prove Progress is Happening
Late Monday night, ESPN’s Mina Kimes and Jeff Passan reported that new Mets general manager Jared Porter sent a series of inappropriate and offensive text messages to a female reporter while with the Chicago Cubs in 2016. By 8:00am the next morning, new Mets owner Steve Cohen announced via Twitter that he had fired Porter. While this was undeniably the correct move, let’s not overlook how notable it is that the situation played out in this manner.
Five years ago, Porter’s behavior likely would never have come to light. And if it had, Porter likely would have gotten away with a slap on the wrist. Even three years ago, in the early days of the #MeToo movement, the Mets (or any other organization) may have dragged its collective feet for days debating internally, weighing the value of the employee and his position against their perception of the severity of his actions and the potential business and PR implications of their various options, with many in the room saying things like, “let’s ride this out” or “maybe it’ll blow over.”
Cohen and the Mets should be praised for acting as quickly and decisively as they did. The evidence in this case was clear; ESPN had the text messages, and when reached by the reporters on Monday, Porter initially lied and denied sending the explicit photos, then failed to acknowledge the severity of his actions or demonstrate any remorse. He simply had to go. Cohen and the Mets can’t talk the talk of culture, values and integrity while keeping someone like Porter in a position of power and influence representing the organization.
But it’s a sign of progress that they realized this as quickly as they did and acted accordingly, instead of being dragged kicking and screaming to this inevitable result. This wasn’t just any random employee; this was a new general manager recently hired amid great fanfare, running point on the new owner’s plan to turn the franchise around, just weeks before Spring Training. The Mets had a lot invested in Jared Porter. To see them walk away from him this quickly is a clear sign that Cohen, Sandy Alderson and their advisers at the top of the Mets senior leadership team understand they have to walk the walk and have their priorities straight.
It often feels like progress doesn’t happen as quickly as it should. And we still have a long way to go. But this incident is an opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve come in just the past few years.