In a bombshell article posted by The Athletic‘s Brittany Ghiroli, Katie Strang and Ken Rosenthal, five women have come forth to detail persistent and unwanted encounters with former Mets manager Mickey Callaway that include lewd and inappropriate behavior.

Callaway reportedly sent three of the women explicit photographs and asked one of them for nude pictures in return, in addition to contacting them electronically in a unprompted manner that made them uncomfortable.

Callaway’s actions reportedly span over five years and with three different ballclubs.

“It was the worst-kept secret in sports,” said one of the women, according to the article.

The women were granted anonymity from The Athletic in order to protect their identities.

Callaway, when contacted by The Athletic, said that he was just made aware of these allegations and declined to rush to a response.

“Any relationship in which I was engaged has been consensual, and my conduct was in no way intended to be disrespectful to any women involved. I am married and my wife has been made aware of these general allegations,” Callaway said.

The Athletic contacted the Mets in August, 2018 — about 10 months after he was hired by the ballclub — to make them aware of some information they had heard about Callaway. The Mets investigated the issue, but Callaway remained as manager until the end of the 2019 season.

Callaway is currently the pitching coach for the Los Angeles Angels, who released a statement in response to the story:

“The behavior being reported violates the Angels Organization’s values and policies,” the team said. “We take this very seriously and will conduct a full investigation with MLB.”

This comes less than two weeks after the Mets fired general manager Jared Porter, who sent lewd and unwanted photographs and text messages to a female reporter that started during his time with the Chicago Cubs.

The Mets early Tuesday morning released the following statement on Callaway:

Statements from Steve Cohen and Sandy Alderson re: the Mickey Callaway story: pic.twitter.com/h1nUT8IeMe

— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) February 2, 2021

To read the entire article, please click here.

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The Mets were interested in prized free agent catcher J.T. Realmuto‘s services this winter, but they couldn’t wait around forever, president Sandy Alderson said. So the team pivoted to James McCann, whose new four-year contract with the team became official this week.

However, Realmuto may not be a stranger to the Mets going forward, as MLB Insiders Jon Heyman and Britt Ghiroli report that the Washington Nationals are interested in Realmuto’s services.

Realmuto, 30 in March, is slated to secure a big pay day this winter, so Heyman adds that should Washington pursue the backstop, ownership would have to give the greenlight on a deal.

The Oklahoma native is arguably the best catcher in the game today, with a robust bat combined with a strong defensive prowess behind the dish.

In his seven year big league career between the Marlins and Phillies, Realmuto has been worth 18.9 fWAR, and has been worth 4+ fWAR in his last three full seasons (2017-19).

During the shortened 2020 season, Realmuto clubbed 11 homers, had a triple slash of .266/.349/.491, a .361 wOBA and 125 wRC+. For his career, he owns a slash line of .278/.328/.455, a .333 wOBA and 109 wRC+.

On the other side of the ball in his last full season in 2019, Realmuto was ranked No. 4 by Baseball Prospectus out of 123 qualifying catchers with a 20.4 catcher defensive adjustment (CDA) and 19.5 fielding runs above average (FRAA). Statcast also has Realmuto in the 95th percentile in framing.

The last two seasons, the Nationals have mostly had Yan Gomes and Kurt Suzuki calling the shots behind the plate, but Suzuki is now a free agent and Gomes has just one year left on his contract.

Washington’s current payroll is sitting at just over $142 million plus $21 million in deferred salaries, according to Spotrac.

Should Realmuto decide to take his talents to Washington, it would be his third team played for in the National League East.

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