Hartford Courant

What’s next for the Mets’ front office without Porter?

- By Deesha Thosar

NEW YORK — The Mets are rolling up their sleeves and attempting to move on from their second offseason scandal in as many years, turning their attention to a new front-office structure without Jared Porter.

The former Mets GM was fired on Tuesday morning after an ESPN report revealed the 41-year-old sent unsolicite­d texts and graphic images to a female foreign correspond­ent nearly five years ago. Team president Sandy Alderson first learned of the report on Monday, when Porter apologized without fully explaining his inappropri­ate behavior.

“Look, this is a wake-up call,” Alderson said in a press conference Tuesday. “It clearly suggests that something like this can be out there in connection with anyone.”

With pitchers and catchers scheduled to report to spring training in less than a month, the team will not hire a replacemen­t for Porter and move forward with the front-office group currently in place.

Assistant GM Zack Scott is expected to be promoted to fill Porter’s role. Scott had spent the past 17 seasons with the Red Sox, including overseeing their analytics and profession­al scouting department­s. He worked alongside Porter in Boston for 10 years before the Mets hired him in December. Alderson said Tuesday he would more clearly define the club’s top brass in the coming days.

“We’re on a certain trajectory, I think a successful one to this point,” Alderson said, pointing toward the Mets’ busy offseason that’s helped fill necessary holes on their roster. “While Jared presents a void, I’m very confident that the group that we have can move forward effectivel­y.”

Besides Scott, former interim Mets GM and longtime senior vice president of baseball operations John Ricco is one of Alderson’s trusted advisors in the current front-office structure. He represents another option to be elevated to the GMposition.

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