Per Jon Heyman, Billy Eppler is heading to the New York Mets. The former LA Angels GM is reportedly finalizing a deal with New York. Eppler got his start in baseball as a scout for the Colorado Rockies in 2000. He then proceeded to join the New York Yankees organization after the 2004 season. Eppler rose through the ranks, becoming the scouting director after a promotion from Yankees GM Brian Cashman following the 2005 season. During Eppler’s tenure, the Yankees acquired players such as Russell Martin and Andruw Jones. He was later promoted to the assistant general manager position during the 2011-2012 offseason. “He checks all the boxes,” Cashman said. “He’s got the analytics side checked off, he’s got the administrative side checked off and he’s got the scouting side checked off. He’s got the leadership side checked off because he’s a great communicator.”
Eppler’s Angels Tenure
Following his time with the Yankees, Eppler interviewed with a number of teams and ended up joining the Los Angeles Angels. He signed a four-year contract with them in 2015. While they had their good moments such as the signing of Shohei Ohtani, Eppler, and owner Arte Moreno reportedly had their differences, which led to some struggles, such as a depleted Minor League system. Brad Ausmus, who was Eppler’s choice as manager, was quickly let go after just one season. Eppler thinks highly of Ausmus and apparently did not agree with this decision. Eppler was later fired in 2020.
Moving Forward
Now that the Mets have their guy, where do they go from here? There are many big decisions to be made this offseason, and Eppler will be at the head of those decisions. Given Eppler’s love of analytics and Steve Cohen’s goal for the Mets to embrace analytics more, we can expect additions to the analytics department, which has been totally revamped since the Wilpon ownership. Eppler is also friends with Milwaukee Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns. The Mets have been in pursuit of Stearns for a while, but the Brewers have blocked any interviews from happening. Perhaps that changes in the future with Eppler now a Mets executive. Regardless, it is a new era in New York as the Mets hope they found their man.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
Players/Managers Mentioned:
Russell Martin, Andruw Jones, Shohei Ohtani, Brad Ausmus
