Jared Porter owns four championship rings from his 17 seasons as a baseball executive. The Mets, who introduced Porter as their new general manager on Monday, have won two rings in their 59 seasons. Porter keeps his rings locked away, he said, and never wears them. But the lessons he learned in winning them could help the Mets get their third.

Early in his career, as an assistant in player development for the Boston Red Sox, Porter sat in a suite with Theo Epstein, the team’s architect. This was 2007, and the Red Sox were on their way to their second title in four years. But the Yankees had signed a skinny pitcher with a dazzling changeup, Edwar Ramirez, from an independent team in Texas called the Edinburg Coyotes. They had found a major leaguer in a place the Red Sox had missed.

“We need to do a better job in the independent leagues,” Epstein told his staff, as Porter recalled in a news conference conducted via video call on Monday. “Why aren’t we on these guys? Why aren’t we more aggressive? We need to figure out a process to improve this.”

That winter, Porter spent $1 to sign Daniel Nava, the best hitter on the independent Chico (Calif.) Outlaws. In 2013, Nava hit .303 as a regular for the Red Sox and helped them win their next championship.

Source: New York Times

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