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ESPN MLB Insider Jeff Passan is no stranger to social media callouts. He is more active in going after different accounts on social media than the other ESPN insiders like Adam Schefter or Shams Charania. That is a good thing in one instance because it shows fans that Passan is human and not robotic, but it can also be bad depending on what someone in Passan's position says in response. He did it once again with an MLB scoop account.
The X/Twitter account, MLBScoops, went after Passan due to a piece Passan wrote on what led to the messy breakup between Rafael Devers and the Boston Red Sox. The account quoted the piece and accused Passan of playing politics “to swoon Devers over for more insider information.”
The quote prompted Passan to respond, “Delete your account.” Then, it spiraled from there, with the MLB Scoops account taking it one step further, calling out Passan for congratulating the Mets on hiring Jared Porter as their general manager back in 2020, despite, they claim, him working on a bombshell piece involving Porter.
Then, Passan's response shredded the anonymous account with an explanation of how his journalism: “Because, unlike you, we care about doing things right. We knew the source would not allow us to print it. When she did, we did. That's how journalism works. Now, please, for everyone's sake, delete your account and stop peddling this garbage, you fetid, sad creature.”
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There's a lot to unpack from this interaction between Jeff Passan and the scoops account. The New York Mets hired Jared Porter in December 2020. Not even one month later, in January 2021, Passan and Mina Kimes contributed to an article alleging that Porter had a relationship with a foreign reporter working with the Chicago Cubs. Porter also sent explicit pictures to this reporter after sending around 60 messages to her before that. The Mets fired Porter after the news came to light.
This was a masterclass by Passan to put a random scoops account in its place because when any reporter does a story with sensitive material, the most significant factor is how forthright the sources involved will be, due to the personal nature of a story like this.
Someone like Passan or any other insider across every sport and every network has specific journalistic standards to uphold. A random X/Twitter account like MLBScoops has zero accountability. While they claim they have sources and get certain pieces of news correct, they still have no oversight or standards to uphold, which is where Passan comes from when attacking the account.
