Zack Scott Named Mets' Acting GM After Jared Porter Was Fired by NY

The New York Mets named Zack Scott their acting general manager Wednesday after firing Jared Porter last week for harassing and sending lewd pictures to a female reporter in 2016.

Scott previously served as the team's assistant general manager. 

"Zack has plenty of championship experience to draw upon," said Mets President Sandy Alderson. "He has been an integral part of our decision-making processes since his arrival. The entire baseball operations staff, including myself, will continue to work collaboratively."

Scott previously spent 17 years in the Boston Red Sox organization and was hired by the Mets in December to serve under Porter. 

Mina Kimes and Jeff Passan of ESPN broke the story of Porter's pattern of harassment with the woman, which included him sending her 62 unanswered text messages, including a picture of an erect, naked penis.

Porter admitted to texting the woman, who was a foreign correspondent, at first denying he sent her pictures before saying "the more explicit ones are not of me. Those are like, kinda like joke stock images," when told ESPN had copies of their text exchange.

The woman said she made a member of the Cubs organization aware of Porter's behavior in 2016 but did not pursue the matter because she feared retribution. Porter was the Cubs' director of professional scouting from 2015 to 2016. 

She remained anonymous in the ESPN story, in part because she did not want "to go through the victimization process again" in her home country. 

"My number one motivation is I want to prevent this from happening to someone else," she told ESPN through an interpreter. "Obviously, he's in a much greater position of power. I want to prevent that from happening again. The other thing is, I never really got the notion that he was truly sorry.

"I know in the U.S., there is a women's empowerment movement. But in [my home country], it's still far behind," the woman said. "Women get dragged through the mud if your name is associated with any type of sexual scandal. Women are the ones who get fingers pointed at them. I don't want to go through the victimization process again. I don't want other people to blame me."

Mets owner Steve Cohen fired Porter, who was hired as the team's general manager last month, within hours of the story breaking.

"In my initial press conference I spoke about the importance of integrity and I meant it," Cohen tweeted. "There should be zero tolerance for this type of behavior."

 Cohen officially purchased the Mets in October. Porter was one of his first major organizational hires.