Image credit: Chris Simon
Per multiple reports on Monday night, the Mets appear to have found their new general manager in former Los Angeles Angels GM and Brian Cashman protege, Billy Eppler.
Eppler, 46, was relieved of his duties in Anaheim following the 2020 season after a five-year run at the helm of the club. Though he comes into the job as a highly regarded front office fixture, there are red flags here. And that’s moderately worrisome.
Los Angeles not making the postseason once during Eppler’s tenure despite having arguably the greatest baseball player of all time in Mike Trout on the roster is the extent of our baseball-based grievances.
Though, that’s somewhat excused by legendarily meddling owner Arte Moreno’s involvement in baseball operations. We as Mets fans know that song by heart. It can’t be easy to construct a full roster around Trout with Albert Pujols and Anthony Rendon’s monster salaries on the payroll at the owner’s behest.
I’m sure Eppler wishes Moreno enjoyed front-line starting pitching as much as he does overpriced lineup toys. If he did, they might have actually been able to win something out there.
After some deliberation and a few notes from friends with ties to the Angels confirming that Eppler is indeed that dude when it comes to the baseball side of things, we’re generally OK with that aspect of the hire.
Off the diamond, the concerns are a bit more glaring.
The Angels’ hiring of embattled former Mets manager Mickey Callaway as pitching coach despite confirmation of his abhorrent behavior being just a phone call away is questionable, at best. And that certainly doesn't appear to be the direction an organization dead-set on “changing the culture” should have been looking.
The Angels’ handling of the chain of events leading to pitcher Tyler Skaggs’ drug overdose while in a team hotel after allegedly receiving drugs from a team employee in July 2019 is even more disturbing.
Connecting Eppler directly to either of these instances is a bridge too far for us to cross, speculation-wise. But it’s certainly not good optics.
As fans, the most we can do is hope that the reported three independent firms conducting the Mets’ vetting process cleared the hire.
And hope that Eppler addresses these questions during his introductory press conference, whenever that may be.
And as if the Mets finally hiring a GM was going to be the most shocking news of the day…
Per Jeff Passan of ESPN, the Los Angeles Angels and 29-year-old right-hander Noah Syndergaard are in agreement on a one-year, $21 million deal, abruptly ending Thor’s time in Flushing and giving the Mets a compensation pick in next year’s draft (between Rounds 2 and 3) under the terms of the qualifying offer.
Surprising would be an understatement to describe this twist in the storyline. I think we’re all in agreement there. As of the end of the season, Syndergaard was “honored” to receive the QO from the Mets and was widely expected to accept the one-year, $18.4 million offer. Lo and behold, Los Angeles had other ideas.
Having logged just two innings of work since the start of 2020 (Tommy John surgery) yet with a world of potential in that hulking frame, any team paying for Syndergaard’s services would have been assuming a heavy risk — whether that was the Mets at $18.4 million or now, the Angels at $21 million.
For a team in New York’s position, as much as losing an organizational mainstay in Syndergaard stings the fan base, this is unquestionably the smarter baseball and business move.
But wait! What about the pitching staff?? Good point.
Jacob deGrom, coming off a ligament tear in his elbow, is the furthest he’s been from a sure thing in years. I swear, I’m not being a downer, but coming off that sort of injury, it’s the truth.
Carlos Carrasco was not the Cookie he or anyone else expected him to be last season. Taijuan Walker was an All-Star in 2021 but inconsistencies were more than prevalent in the second half. Tylor Megill and David Peterson showed back-end potential but are far from proven despite glimpses of hacking it.
With Syndergaard’s $18.4 million unearmarked and back in the piggy bank (as well as an expected — and notable — increase in payroll), the Mets can theoretically now afford two high-end starters to plug into their question-mark-filled current rotation. That’s huge.
Let’s see how this cookie crumbles.
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WOW!!!! Noah?! OK, Breathe..........do you think the Eppler deal (the midnight logistics of his contract) had anything to do with the Thor signing? Too serendipity to be a coincidence.....