Eppler Resigns

[Gwreck]

The Mets will in be hamstrung by both the ghosts of Scherzer and Verlander next year, too (and maybe for taxation purposes $17.5M more for Verlander in '25).

This hardly seems like something that gets charged to the account of Eppler. He certainly could have moved more of the money when trading Verlander/Scherzer. Steve Cohen was very candid about the fact that he preferred to eat the money and acquire better prospects.

[Gwreck]

If you have the biggest budget ever, why sink so much of it into starting pitching in an era when — between caution and injury — starting pitchers get an ever-decreasing opportunity to impact the game? If you're unwilling to depart from the prevalent thinking, you can be minimizing the advantage of a large budget, rather than maximizing it.

Because starting pitching was a way to rapidly improve the team without committing to long term contracts?

Trea Turner or Aaron Judge - or even Carlos Correa - were all available last season (and Cory Seager, Marcus Semien, and Freddie Freeman the year before) but required contracts of substantially different length than the 2 or 3 years committed to Scherzer and Verlander.

[Edgy MD]

It's a way. I'm just trying to suggest that it's an increasingly unreliable way — as the way teams deploy starting pitching is increasingly counterproductive.

[Frayed Knot]

One of the problems in trying to evaluate Eppler's tenure in Queens is that it's hard to know how many decisions were made over his head, ie: by Cohen.
It's obvious that the Correa thing was a virtual Stevie solo gig. I mean, yeah, that deal never actually was made, but was Eppler even in the loop?
Verlander talked about how talking to Steve is what sold him on the Mets but was Steve there to just seal the deal or was that a soup-to-nuts situation also?
Ditto the Scherzer negotiations a year earlier.
And when the decision was made to break the whole thing down at the deadline, was Eppler part of that decision or was it made for him and he was just
then put in charge of making the best deals out of moves that were essentially dictated to him?

Maybe Eppler, like Ng earlier this week, didn't like a situation where they had not just one person over him but more than occasionally two.

[metirish]

[Benjamin Grimm]

I'd be interested in knowing which specific transactions were in violation. I'm not sure that will ever be disclosed.

[bmfc1]

There were no superfluous comments about Eppler's age or presumptions about his mental state.

[A Boy Named Seo]

He's on the 265-day IL.

[kcmets]

Funny, I expected to hear of him latching on to some new gig somewhere
when I clicked on thread - not a Go To Jail card and do not pass GO or collect
any dough tweet.

Oh, and good one bmfc!

[Edgy MD]

It seems to me that Eppler's abuse of the IL is something that's more or less done by most GMs, and I'd sure like to know what's different about this case. Was his abuse worse or was the evidence just more damning?

He probably shouldn't have hired Alina Habba to represent him.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Was his abuse worse or was the evidence just more damning?

Maybe it was worse. Or maybe it was more brazen. I'd really love to know the details.

[metirish]

Not sure if there's anything new here but.... False documentation would seem like something you would have to submit for bogus IL trips, if this is a common issue throughout the league then MLB needs better checks and balances

https://www.mlb.com/news/billy-eppler-disciplined

[Fman99]

Just more LOLMets stuff. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes

[Edgy MD]

When you think what a player has to do to earn a two-week suspension, let alone a year-long one, it's hard not to wonder how this violation can be so worthy of such distinction.

Amazing that whatever violations he committed, he committed in the name of bringing home a 75-win team in a season that would be his last.

[Lefty Specialist]

I get the feeling that this is a warning to other GM's as much as it's penalty to Eppler. He was the sacrifice made to tell everybody, 'cut it out or else'.

The Mets paid the remainder of his contract thru 2025 the day the investigation was announced, so he's not losing any money. He's essentially getting a year's paid vacation followed by a year of severance.

[Edgy MD]

There had been some speculation that Hunter had been the guy who sang to MLB. This either weakens or strengthens that notion, depending on your perspective.

[Frayed Knot]

Hey Man! has an article in the NY Post saying that "a NYM employee" ratted out Eppler and t\in doing so gave MLB/Manfred the evidence needed,
which Eppler made no attempt to deny, to punish him for a crime which, as Tommy Hunter says, goes on everywhere but in this case landed with
insider proof on the commish's desk.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Hey Man! has an article in the NY Post saying that "a NYM employee" ratted out Eppler and t\in doing so gave MLB/Manfred the evidence needed,
which Eppler made no attempt to deny, to punish him for a crime which, as Tommy Hunter says, goes on everywhere but in this case landed with
insider proof on the commish's desk.

From Heyman:

Eppler, who previously had an impeccable reputation, made mistakes. But perhaps his biggest mistake was making an enemy in his own organization who knew too much.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Intriguing...

[Edgy MD]

My new shortlist of suspects:

• Tim Locastro
• Bryn Alderson
• Andrew Christie
• Nicole Richie