Major League Baseball will open an investigation into former New York Mets general manager Jared Porter, who was fired on Tuesday morning after it was discovered that he sent lewd and explicit text messages to a female reporter while he was working with the Chicago Cubs in 2016.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale first reported of the impending investigation from MLB.
Depending on the findings, Porter could be suspended from the league, which would force him to apply for reinstatement.
“This story came to our attention [Monday night] and we are not aware of this incident ever being reported to the organization,” the Cubs released in a statement. “Had we been notified, we would have taken swift action as the alleged behavior is in violation of our code of conduct.
“While these two individuals are no longer with the organization, we take issues of sexual harassment seriously and plan to investigate the matter.”
The Arizona Diamondbacks, who hired Porter as a senior vice president and assistant general manager in 2017, also insisted they knew nothing about the situation.
“We do not condone this behavior and are extremely troubled by the details that have been reported,’’ the team said in a release. “We were obviously not aware of these allegations from 2016 and had we been, we would have investigated and addressed the situation immediately.’’
Inquiries into both clubs are expected as apart of MLB’s investigation.
