Mets introduce Jared Porter as general manager

The Mets officially introduced Jared Porter as the 14th general manager in franchise history today with a press conference over Zoom late this afternoon. Team President Sandy Alderson was the one doing the introduction, and he stayed on the call to take some questions.

Porter began by introducing himself and exchanging pleasantries, touting New York as the “best city in the world” and Citi Field as the “best ballpark in baseball,” but both Porter and Alderson got into elaborating on their plan quickly afterward. Alderson explained that Porter already started on the job as of yesterday, and that he had already turned some responsibility over to Porter. Alderson said there will be a “flexible arrangement” in the power structure between the two of them.

As for his long-term plans, Porter said he was “excited” by Steve Cohen’s plan to win a World Series within three-to-five years. He elaborated into how he plans to meet those expectations by saying he wants to “invest in people, technology, and infrastructure,” adding that he’s “happy to be in a position where that can be provided.” However, Porter also clarified that there is no immediate plan to build out the front office, though they are working towards bringing more people in. Having a deep scouting background, Porter identified player development as a particular target to upgrade in the organization, while also expressing the importance of having a deep research and development team as well.

As for roster construction, Porter touted the value of roster depth and having a deep and strong 40-man roster over a 162 game season, while particularly highlighting the importance of pitching depth and flexible talent up the middle. In what should be music to the ears of Mets fans, Porter did talk about his desire to bring in actual quality depth, stating that there is a difference between just depth and quality depth.

Alderson took most of the questions regarding this offseason. He claimed that they’ve been “running up and down the gourmet aisle” of the free agent market, but things are developing slowly there. Alderson also alluded to the James McCann signing as much as he could without the deal being official. He hinted that part of the reason they went with McCann was due to the slowness behind the J.T. Realmuto market. “You can wait to fill some holes,” Alderson said, “but you can’t wait to fill all of your holes.”

Regarding the top of the market, Alderson also opined that fans don’t want to win the offseason; they want to win the season. Having just come on board, Porter did not talk about current free agency as much, but did say that he wants to continue to add to the pitching staff this offseason.

When asked about the conundrum of having both Pete Alonso and Dom Smith on the same roster if there is no DH in the NL this year, Porter trumpeted how much he likes both players and expressed the importance of having both players even without the DH.

Other smaller notes from the press conference included Porter’s emphasis on communication, as well as how much he values scouting. He said he trusts the people they have in place now and “feels no pressure” to add assistant GMs currently. Porter claimed he had reached out to Luis Rojas, who is in the Dominican Republic, over the weekend. Meanwhile, Alderson advised that further staffing hires on the coaching level will be announced over the next few weeks.