What a weekend it was for the Mets.
Shortly after coming to terms with free-agent catcher James McCann on a four-year deal worth just north of $40 million, as a source confirmed with amNewYork Metro, the Mets reportedly found their new general manager as well in Jared Porter.
The 41-year-old is one of the most well-traveled baseball executives you’ll find for a candidate his age.
He spent the past four seasons as a senior vice president and assistant general manager with the Arizona Diamondbacks, taking a franchise that had experienced five-straight seasons of .500 baseball or less and transforming them into a club that posted a .521 winning percentage (285-261) during his stint.
The opportunity to turn the Diamondbacks around was a just reward for an extended resume that featured work with four World Series winners over a 13-year stretch between 2004-2016.
Three of them came with the Boston Red Sox as he rose through the ranks of the organization. He caught on as an intern in 2004 under Theo Epstein when the Red Sox broke an 86-year World Series drought. He was their player development assistant for a second title in 2007 and was bumped up to coordinator of pro scouting one year later. In 2010, he became their assistant director of professional scouting and the director of professional scouting in 2012, just in time for a third title in 2013.
Three years later, he reunited with Epstein in Chicago with the Cubs, helping the organization break a 108-year championship drought performing as the club’s director of professional scouting and a special assistant.
His extensive scouting background and fluency in analytics makes him a prime candidate for the Mets under new owner Steve Cohen, who is striving to make his team like the “East Coast Dodgers.”
The Dodgers have been the class of the National League for the better part of a decade thanks in part to a well-established scouting network and analytics team that finds the best talent and sets them up in the best positions to succeed.
Porter’s long history with Epstein will only fuel speculation that the Mets will go after the future Hall-of-Famer as a president of baseball operations after his year-long vacation ends following the 2021 season. But team president Sandy Alderson said that he was looking to hire an executive that could grow into the role of PBO.
The Mets initially wanted to hire a PBO and GM this offseason under Cohen and Alderson, but they pivoted their search and decided to go for just the GM due to a lack of access to their top candidates.
