Report: MLB Planning to Investigate Ex-Mets GM Jared Porter over Explicit Texts

Major League Baseball reportedly is planning to investigate former New York Mets general manager Jared Porter's harassment of a female reporter in 2016 when he was the Chicago Cubs' director of pro scouting.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported potential punishment could include Porter being suspended and requiring reinstatement before working in baseball again. 

Mina Kimes and Jeff Passan of ESPN broke a story detailing Porter's pattern of harassment with the woman, which included him sending her several unanswered text messages and unwanted photographs, including one of a penis. Porter acknowledged sending the woman texts, though he attempted to deny sending lewd pictures before being presented with the text history.

"The more explicit ones are not of me. Those are like, kinda like joke-stock images," Porter told ESPN.

Mets owner Steve Cohen announced Porter's firing Tuesday morning. 

 "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."

Porter was the Cubs' director of professional scouting during his contact with the woman. The woman was a foreign correspondent who moved to the United States to cover baseball, and English was not her first language. She remained anonymous for the ESPN story over fear about potential criticism in her home country. 

She said she spoke to a player in the Cubs organization from her country for help informing Porter that his behavior was inappropriate and another team employee, who advised her to use the situation to her advantage. ESPN first learned of Porter's behavior in 2017, but the woman did not want to come forward over fear of retribution.

"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. 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."

She has since returned to her home country and left journalism to work in finance.

The Cubs, Mets and Arizona Diamondbacks have released statements saying they were unaware of the allegations. Porter was the Diamondbacks' assistant general manager from 2017 until last month, when he was hired by the Mets.