New York Mets owner Steven Cohen caps off his busy Saturday by officially hiring his new general manager.
The New York Mets had themselves a busy Saturday afternoon. Two days after the Philadelphia Phillies hired Dave Dombrowski as their president of baseball operations, the Mets signed free agent catcher James McCann to a four-year, $40 million contract. Cohen, who greeted Mets season ticket holders picking up their bobbleheads at Citi Field on Saturday, decided to fill out a main vacancy in the front office.
According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the Mets reached an agreement with former Arizona Diamondbacks assistant GM, to be their next general manager.
Porter was a finalist for New York’s GM job
Earlier on in the day, shortly before the McCann news, MLB insider Jon Heyman reported that Porter and Boston Red Sox assistant general manager Zack Scott were viewed as the frontrunners for the job. However, it was Porter who got the job over six hours later.
Porter does bring a championship pedigree to Flushing, Queens. He started off as an intern with the Boston Red Sox in 2004, and was promoted to the director of professional scouting in 2012, a role that he held until 2015. In that span, Porter was part of three World Series-winning teams. Porter joined the Chicago Cubs in the same role under Theo Epstein, and immediately won a World Series. From there, he was hired by the Diamondbacks to be their assistant general manager in 2017.
The Mets’ hiring of Porter has been universally praised since news broke. ESPN’s Jeff Passan said Porter is “immensely respected around baseball and has been seen as a future GM for years.” Former MLB pitcher Dan Haren also lauded the hire, saying the Mets “got it right.”
Porter will work under team president Sandy Alderson, who was brought back following Cohen’s purchase of the Mets. New York has their general manager and catcher, and will now likely focus on bringing in their future center fielder in George Springer and/or starting pitcher Trevor Bauer.
Mets fans will forever remember Dec. 12, 2020 as being one of the more exciting days in the franchise’s recent history.