Opinion: Sandy Alderson’s Problematic Hires Highlight Serious Issue in MLB

Now twice this offseason, bombshell revelations alleging sexual misconduct towards female reporters have been published. The first allegations were against Jared Porter and came to light on January 18th in an ESPN exclusive by Mina Kimes and Jeff Passan.

Porter acknowledged his wrong doing, and was fired by the Mets shortly there after. Not even a month later, former Mets manager and current Angles pitching coach Mickey Callaway was accused by five different females for sexual harassment, dating back to his time with the Indians in an article published by The Athletic.

The one common denominator between these two men is the New York Mets. Both have held high positions within the organization, and both were hired by the same man: Mets President Sandy Alderson.

When the Mets terminated Jared Porter’s contract in January, Alderson said in a statement: “Jared’s actions, as reflected by events disclosed last night, failed to meet the Mets’ standards for professionalism and personal conduct.” Shortly thereafter in an interview, Alderson admitted that he asked zero women about Porter during his vetting process.

When reached and asked for comment regarding Callaway, Alderson said in an official statement “I was appalled by the actions reported today of former manager Mickey Callaway. I was unaware of the conduct described in the story at the time of Mickey’s hire or at any time during my tenure as General Manager. We have already begun a review of our hiring process to ensure our vetting of new employees is more thorough and comprehensive.”

Alderson admitting he knew nothing about Callaway’s repulsive actions directly contradicts what some have said about Callaway, including some even going as far as to call Mickey’s behavior the “worst kept secret in the sport”.

It would be reasonable for one to ask themselves “How could Sandy Alderson not know about the worst kept secret in the sport?”

Quite frankly, its a simple answer: Alderson lacks the proper vetting processes in place to avoid problematic hires.

It would be valid and understandable to sit here and rip on Jeff Wilpon for being Callaway’s “biggest backer” in the locker room, despite knowing what he knew about the manager, but since Wilpon is since gone, there is no reason to.

The matter of the fact is that if Alderson had even considered asking a female about either Porter or Callaway, we could be having a different conversation. Instead, several women have now been sexually harassed at the hands of Mickey Callaway, and victims of Jared Porter had to sit back and watch him rise to the top, knowing the monster he is and not being able to say a word about it.

The issues of Porter and Callaway are just the tip of a larger scale issue in the sport, but it is not everyday that two of the last three major hires by an executive turn out to be sexual predators, and that falls directly on the shoulders of Sandy Alderson.

It would not be fair to criticize Alderson in this article without pointing out that there is a very limited number of females that are either coaches or executives in Major League Baseball to begin with.

But with that being said, there is a rising number of female reporters and members of the media. It would make sense to ask these reporters and media members about their interactions with potential hires, considering a part of their job involves handling and interacting with the media.

There was a pattern of inappropriate behavior from Callaway that was not just a whispered secret. Through a proper vetting process, this misconduct could have been brought to the surface much sooner. It also cannot be said with 100% certainty that there are not more victims of Jared Porter’s actions as well.

Does a better vetting process guarantee that all accounts of sexual misconduct conducted by a single person will be ousted?

No, of course not. But it opens the door for more incidents to come to light, hopefully preventing these abusive people from continually rising in this industry with no repercussions for their heinous actions.

Alderson is at fault for his actions in these two hires, but so is the system in place surrounding Major League Baseball. To bluntly put it, Major League Baseball currently has a system that favors white men far more than anyone else.

It took until this offseason for the first female general manager to be hired in Kim Ng, and it took until 2020 for MLB’s first female coach, Alyssa Nakken.

It is also worth noting that Ng is currently the only minority general manager in the sport, and there are only three minority managers as well.

Alderson’s faults are part of a bigger issue within the sport: a complete lack of diversity and inability to seek out and help produce qualified candidates for high level jobs that are women and people of color.

Credit where credit is due to the Miami Marlins, who hired Mike Hill to help facilitate the turn around of the Marlins, and with the team now closing in on a window of contention, the team hired Kim Ng, who is one of the most qualified people in the history of the sport to sit in a general managerial chair.

It would be easy to sit here and blast on the Mets non-stop, but it is important to recognize that Porter’s misconducts occurred while he was employed by the Chicago Cubs, and Callaway’s gross sexual advances occurred on at least one other team in addition to while with the Mets.

Baseball has long had a reputation of being a “boys club” and not being an open and fair playing field for women and people of color, and it is time for that to change.

The simple fact that sexual predators can still hold high ranking jobs in baseball, while little to no effort is given to developing minority coaches and executives, is inexcusable. The solution to this problem starts with making the sport a more comfortable place for women and minorities alike.

To accomplish that, MLB needs to be vigilant in removing the cancers like Callaway and Porter from their sport, without allowing them to resurface once their names are out of the headlines. The days of sweeping the warts of baseball’s “boy’s club” under the rug need to be a thing of the past.

I sincerely hope Alderson, the Mets, and baseball as a whole continue to strengthen and diversify their vetting processes in an effort to facilitate a more level playing field for all involved.