Mets General Manager Jared Porter Was Fired for Sending Inappropriate Texts to a Reporter. How Could the Team Have Avoided This Hiring Disaster?The New York baseball squad's second major personnel crisis in the past year begs the question of how to hire and interview better. Our experts have the answers.

Despitenew ownershipand a splashyoffseason trade acquisiton, Major League Baseball's historically bedeviled New York Mets franchise still has a knack for generating the wrong kind of press. Billionaire owner Steve Cohen, who took over control of the team last fall,announced over Twitterthis morning that recently hired General Manager Jared Porter was terminated afterESPN published detailsof Porter's unsolicited, sexually explicit text messages to a foreign correspondent while he was employed with the Chicago Cubs in 2016.

This shakeup comes precisely one year after the Metsfired then-incoming 2020 managerCarlos Beltran for his role in the Houston Astros cheating scandal. In both instances, Metsexecutives professed ignoranceto their employees' past transgressions. Though in each circumstance, that line of defense strains credulity. (Rumors of the Astros' pervasive, illicit sign-stealing circa 2017, while Beltran was a player on the team, were rampant for years andfinally made publiceight days after the Mets hired Beltran. And ESPN nearly published the incriminating informaiton on Porter in '17 when he was still with the Cubs, only his accuser decided not to move forward for fear of blowback to her career.)

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There's a lot to unpack here, from Cohen's prompt and forceful show of leadership in immediately firing Porter to Porter's horrific abuse of power and privilege in being promoted despite his actions. But at a minimum, this story should serve as a cautionary tale to all businesses about due diligence in interviewing and hiring. Fortunately, we have published ample guidance on the topic, and recommend reviewing the following stories from our archives on how to avoid the Mets' repeated mistakes in both judgement and procedure.

Start withMitchell Terpstra's insightson spotting red flags, such as the "inability to speak openly about past work experience or reasons for leaving a position." Then, move on and heedAytekin Tank's two centson how hiring the wrong candidate can be both immediately costly and collaterally damaging, before consideringPushpendra Mehta's recommendationto press interviewees on whether "they take responsibility for their failure, play the blame game or offer excuses" and if they "have they learned valuable lessons or are most likely to repeat the same mistakes." Finally, and perhaps most pointedly for Mets brass and upper management of any organization: Follow Miami Marlins co-owner and CEO Derek Jeter — who knows a thing or two about greatness in baseball and business — andhire more womenin positions of power. Just don't be the company that continues to make the same mistakes and learns nothing except how to repackage the same old excuse.