ESPN Uncovered Unsolicited Explicit Photos That Mets GM Jared Porter Sent A Foreign Journalist In 2016

The New York Mets hired Jared Porter as their general manager back in December, and his tenure with the team may very well be an incredibly brief one. On Monday night, ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Mina Kimes published a story detailing how Porter sent a foreign journalist numerous unsolicited photos of himself, some naked, over the course of a few weeks after the two met in an elevator at Yankee Stadium and briefly talked international prospects while he was the director of professional scouting for the Chicago Cubs.

The story includes screenshots of the text messages, with explicit photos blurred and censored while other selfies of himself offering concrete proof that it was indeed him sending those texts.

The journalist, who spoke with ESPN on the condition of anonymity after having gotten out of the business (she refused to speak about it in 2017 when Passan was first made aware of the texts), explained why she wanted to come forward now that Porter was in an even greater position of power and could do something similar to another woman in the industry.

“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.”

The details in the story are rather horrifying, as the woman, who cited not having a full grasp of English language and customs, found herself getting explicit texts at which point she stopped replying, before he sent 62 unsolicited texts pursuing her further with more pictures including one of an exposed, erect penis.

Once she recognized the sexual nature of the bed picture, she resolved to cut off communication, she said.

Porter would send 62 unanswered texts – including seven photos – between July 19 and Aug. 10, the day before a final flurry from Los Angeles that included the nude photo.

The Mets issued a brief statement, saying that Porter “expressed remorse” — although when initially contacted by ESPN he claimed he never sent photos, then when told they had the texts, insisted the explicit photos were “stock” photographs and then never offered further comment after asking for some more time.

The results of the investigation likely won’t come for a little bit of time, but given the details of the story it seems as though it would be pretty unfathomable for Porter to remain in his GM role for much longer.

UPDATE: Porter was indeed fired by the Mets on Tuesday morning.