Ex-Mets GM Billy Eppler suspended for 2024 season for misusing injured list
Former Mets general manager Billy Eppler was suspended through this year's World Series for fabricating injuries to create open roster spots. Credit: AP/Mary Altaffer
Major League Baseball suspended former Mets general manager Billy Eppler for the 2024 season, it announced Friday, and made clear that the Mets as an organization were cleared of wrongdoing.
After a four-month investigation, the league found that Eppler broke rules regarding the injured list, including “the deliberate fabrication of injuries” and submitting associated documentation for those fake problems, it said in a news release.
Commissioner Rob Manfred put Eppler on the “ineligible list,” which means he cannot work in MLB, through the end of the World Series. Eppler can apply for reinstatement sooner.
The Mets were not punished.
“MLB’s investigation concluded that the pattern of conduct was at Mr. Eppler’s sole direction and without any involvement of Club ownership or superiors,” the league said. “MLB considers the matter closed and will have no further comment.”
Eppler said in a statement: “I cooperated fully and transparently with MLB’s investigation, and I accept their decision.”
The league likewise said Eppler and the Mets “fully cooperated with MLB’s thorough review.” It interviewed more than three dozen people and reviewed “relevant documents and electronic records.”
Teams playing it fast and loose with IL rules is widely acknowledged as common practice. The so-called “phantom IL” allows clubs to sideline a player with an injury of dubious legitimacy and replace him with another player without having to cut the “injured” player, preserving roster flexibility and organizational depth. While the not-really-injured player is out of action, he can work on whatever issues have caused his ineffectiveness on the field.
Eppler’s conduct, however, was deemed egregious and well beyond that gray area, hence the punishment, a source with knowledge of the situation said.
MLB’s investigation began after it received a letter alleging the misbehavior.
Owner Steve Cohen hired Eppler in November 2021 at the end of another lengthy search for a head of baseball operations. Eppler oversaw the 2022 team that won 101 games but collapsed down the stretch and lost in the first round of the playoffs, then orchestrated the trade-deadline breakdown of the 2023 club that never lived up to the hype, finishing with a losing record.
When Cohen hired David Stearns as president of baseball operations last fall, which resulted in a de facto demotion for Eppler, Cohen and Stearns expressed excitement about Eppler staying with the Mets as the No. 2 baseball executive.
Eppler suddenly resigned — the same week Stearns started the job — when he and the Mets learned of MLB’s investigation.
“The Mets have been informed of the conclusion of Major League Baseball’s investigation,” the team said in a statement. “With Billy Eppler’s resignation on Oct. 5, 2023, and with David Stearns leading the Baseball Operations team, the Mets consider the matter closed and will have no further comment.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
