The Mets won't be filling Jared Porter's now vacant GM role, as team president Sandy Alderson stated the organization will move forward in the short-term with the current group they have at the moment.
Alderson addressed the media during a news conference following the termination of Porter, which came after an ESPN report detalied his inappropriate messages sent to a female foreign correspondent while working for the Chicago Cubs in 2016.
After explaining how the Mets found out and why they decided to let Porter go, Alderson discussed the future -- one he is certain the Mets are equipped to handle right now.
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"In the short-term, no," Alderson said when asked if they hiring a new GM. "What I expect, with the group we have now, that we will move forward toward the end of the offseason and move into spring training [and the] regular season. It was late in the process when we made the search for the general manager. It’s even later now.
"The other thing is that we’re on a certain trajectory, I think a successful one to this point. And while Jared presents a void, I’m very confident in the group that we have that we can move forward and move forward effectively.”
The Mets have certainly been successful this offseason, acquiring game-changing players like Francisco Lindor, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor May, James McCann and Joey Lucchesi. Marcus Stroman is also returning on the qualifying offer because he sees the direction the team is heading under new owner Steve Cohen's and Alderson's guidance.
Alderson also pointed out that some of those deals were made even before Porter was in the building, so they are more than capable of getting the job done.
“If you recall, before Jared arrived, we already signed a couple of free agents. We’ve done a couple of things since," he said.
It still remains to be seen what the Mets do internally now that we can cross hiring a new outside candidate as GM off the list.
The most likely executive to move into Porter’s role in the interim would be assistant GM Zack Scott. He was a finalist for the job before Porter was hired, and they still managed to bring him over from the Boston Red Sox to add a brilliant analytical mind to the front office.
There’s also John Ricco, a long-time Mets executive that has worked with Alderson in the past and was interim GM when Alderson had to step down back in 2018, to consider.
Either way, Alderson knows he can get deals done and configure the roster how he likes by leading from the top as team president.
A GM may come down the road, but with pitchers and catchers reporting to Port St. Lucie in less than a month, the Mets will go full steam ahead without making a big change right now.