New York Mets Near Deal to Make Eppler GM
After a frustrating, and at times – humiliating – six weeks that saw the New York Mets get rejected left and right for both their President of Baseball Operations and General Manager positions, the Amazin’s finally settled on a candidate with mutual interest.
Billy Eppler, the former General Manager of the Los Angeles Angels, and a former Assistant GM under Yankees boss Brian Cashman is finalizing a deal to become the next GM of the Mets.
Mets and Billy Eppler are finalizing the deal to make him the GM
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 16, 2021
The Mets had turned over every stone to find a front office baseball executive, with the hopes they would find someone to become President of Baseball Operations. When it became clear they would be unable to fill that position, again, for the second straight off-season, owner Steve Cohen and President Sandy Alderson instead focused on finding a GM.
That search too led to more rejections and/or denials for interviews.
All told, the Mets tired to go after as many as 20 candidates. In the end it came down to Eppler, who had just recently got a job with sports agency WME as a co-leader in its baseball representative business, and Adam Cromie — an attorney, who had been out of baseball for five years.
In short the Mets were scrapping the bottom of the barrel after getting rejected by some of baseballs biggest names.
Certainly if you compare resumes between Eppler and say, his Mets’ predecessors, Brodie VanWagenen, Jared Porter and Zach Scott, certainly, Eppler is impressive.
More than a decade with the Yankees; a close confidant of Cashman; years of experience working in New York City, and five years as General Manager of the Angels.
Unfortunately for Eppler this is where the questions come to play. In five years in Anaheim, the Angels didn’t win under his watch. They failed to make the postseason every year he was there, and didn’t win more than 80 games in a season. This with a team that has two of the most explosive players in baseball in Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani on the roster, and Eppler couldn’t design a winner.
Some blame meddling on the part of owner Artie Moreno, but Eppler has to take some responsibility for the lack of success with a team loaded with star caliber talent.
To be fair to Eppler, it will be fascinating to see what he learned from that experience, especially with a year away from the game to evaluate himself as an executive.
It’s not like he’s coming into a great situation with the Mets.
He inherits a Mets team that hasn’t been to the postseason since 2016, and went through a year of turmoil under Cohen and Alderson.
From hiring and firing Porter after he was accused of sexual harassment, to hiring and later firing Zach Scott after he had a DUI in August, to Cohen’s proclivity to spout off on Twitter, and the huge contract for Francisco Lindor, this isn’t going to be an easy fix.
There are also questions about the long term health about ace Jacob deGrom; questions about the quality of the roster, specifically players like JD Davis and Jeff McNeil. Questions about whether the Mets will seriously fork over $200 million plus to free-swinging Javier Baez, a buddy of Lindor’s.
Oh, and lets not forget Robinson Cano.
It won’t be easy for Eppler. This will be tough.
The question now turns to the manager’s chair. According to inside baseball circles, a name to be on the lookout for is former Angels and Tigers Skipper Brad Ausmus, who is close with Eppler.
Assuming Eppler takes Mets job, Brad Ausmus could be high on the Mets’ managerial list. Word is Ausmus’ shockingly quick exit in Anaheim was at owner Arte Moreno’s behest. More importantly. Eppler is thought to be a supporter.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 16, 2021
One challenge is done for the Mets. They have a General Manager in place. Now they must fix what is on paper, a flawed baseball team.
