NEW YORK — The Mets, suddenly on the fast track in their offseason plans, have landed on a general manager to work under Sandy Alderson.
Jared Porter has received an offer from the Mets to become their next GM, a source confirmed to the Daily News. Porter has served as the Diamondbacks assistant GM for the past four seasons under GM Mike Hazen in the organization. The team has not yet made the hiring official, but the remainder of the process is expected to cross the finish line without any hiccups.
Porter, 40, joined the D-backs after parts of two seasons with the Chicago Cubs. He served as the Cubs’ director of professional scouting during their first world championship in 2016. He also worked in the Boston Red Sox’s front office and won championships with the club in 2004, '07 and '13.
He worked his way up the ladder in Boston’s organization under Theo Epstein, beginning with his internship year in 2004 at the Red Sox’s spring training facility in Fort Myers, Fla. Porter became the club’s player development assistant from 2006-07 before moving on to scouting. He served in multiple scouting positions for the Red Sox from 2008 until 2015, when he was the team’s director of professional scouting in what would end up being his final year in Boston.
Porter is well-respected around the league and many believed his first opportunity to become a team GM was just around the corner. Steve Cohen’s Mets are the first to take the chance on Porter in their lead GM role after Alderson axed Brodie Van Wagenen early last month.
Alderson has led the team’s baseball operations department this offseason once Cohen’s deal to buy the Mets became official in early November. He will now share those duties with Porter while playing a larger role in day-to-day operations than he initially expected. The Mets originally wanted to hire a president of baseball operations in addition to a GM, but shifted their plan following a lack of permission from teams to interview candidates.
Though the Mets have been without a complete front-office structure, they have steadily executed their blueprint to improve the team’s makeup on and off the field. This month the Mets inked Twins reliever Trevor May and White Sox catcher James McCann as their first big signings under the Cohen and Alderson leadership group. Their next improvements should arrive in the form of additional front-office hires and, what fans have been anxiously waiting for, potential bigger name acquisitions, like Trevor Bauer and/or George Springer.
