Source: Mets finalizing deal with longtime baseball exec Billy Eppler for GM job
LAngels general manager Billy Eppler watches during spring training on Feb. 17, 2020, in Tempe, Ariz. Credit: AP/Darron Cummings
The Mets were working on Monday night to finalize a deal with former Yankees executive Billy Eppler to become their new general manager, a source confirmed.
Eppler, 46, hired in October 2015 as general manager of the Los Angeles Angels, was fired after the 2020 season. The Angels went 332-376 during his tenure and failed to make the postseason despite having the game’s best player in Mike Trout.
Before that, Eppler was scouting director and then assistant general manager with the Yankees, where he became one of Brian Cashman’s top lieutenants.
In September, Eppler became an agent when he was hired by William Morris Endeavor Sports as co-leader of its new baseball representation business.
One of Eppler’s first orders of duty — assuming his contract is finalized — is to hire a manager to replace Luis Rojas, whose contract option was declined after two seasons. Rojas, coincidently, was hired on Monday as the Yankees’ third base coach.
Once hired, Eppler will join a front office that includes Sandy Alderson as team president and Alderson’s son Bryn as an assistant general manager.
It is not yet clear if the Mets will hand Eppler the keys to the entire baseball operation or will try to bring in a team president above him next offseason after striking out in their attempts to hire someone for that lofty position two years in a row.
At last week’s general managers’ meetings, Alderson said he expects his role to gradually shrink once a GM is hired.
"I will be available. I won’t be omnipresent," he said. "As this person becomes more familiar with the organization, more comfortable in the role, etc., I would expect that my involvement will diminish."
Of course, Alderson expressed similar sentiments after hiring Jared Porter as GM last December.
The Mets have been without a full-time GM since firing Porter in January after five weeks on the job following an ESPN report that Porter had sent dozens of harassing and sexually explicit texts to a female reporter while he was a member of the Cubs’ organization in 2016.
Zack Scott was named acting GM on Jan. 27, but he was let go by the Mets on Nov. 1 after an August arrest for driving while under the influence of alcohol in White Plains.
The last person to hold the Mets’ GM job for more than five weeks was former agent Brodie Van Wagenen. Unlike Van Wagenen, Eppler has had a long career as a baseball front-office member since starting as a scout with the Rockies in 2000.
If the Mets called Cashman for a reference, it probably was a glowing one.
"I think Billy’s fantastic," Cashman said last week at the GM meetings. "Anybody who knows me knows my relationship with him. I was lucky to have him working with us. He guided us greatly. I know how good Billy really is . . . His name should pop into anything that pops up. He’s that talented."
Among Eppler’s successes with the Angels was the signing of two-way star Shohei Ohtani, whom Cashman coveted.
Eppler signed Trout to a record $426.5 million contract extension and hired Joe Maddon as manager. But Eppler was unable to build on the Angels’ promise and was let go by owner Arte Moreno.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
