Former Mets GM Placed on Ineligible List

Eppler is in hot water with MLB.

MLB announced that former Mets general manager Billy Eppler has been placed on the ineligible list, effective immediately and through the conclusion of the 2024 World Series. According to the statement, Eppler committed a cardinal sin, violating rules pertaining to “improper use of Injured List placements, including the deliberate fabrication of injuries; and the associated submission of documentation for the purposes of securing multiple improper Injured List placements during the 2022 and 2023 seasons.” The league added that the investigation “concluded that the pattern of conduct was at Mr. Eppler’s sole direction and without any involvement of Club ownership or superiors. MLB considers the matter closed and will have no further comment.”

The Mets put out a statement of their own on the matter: “The Mets have been informed of the conclusion of Major League Baseball’s investigation. With Billy Eppler’s resignation on October 5, 2023, and with David Stearns leading the Baseball Operations team, the Mets consider the matter closed and will have no further comment.”

The disgraced Eppler provided a comment to Joel Sherman of The New York Post: “I cooperated fully and transparently with MLB’s investigation, and I accept their decision.”

Eppler, 48 years-of-age, was brought on to be the general manager of the Mets in November of 2021. The club hired David Stearns to be president of baseball operations in September of 2023, with the plan reportedly being for Eppler to stay on as GM, working under Stearns. However, on October 5, all those plans went out the window when he resigned and it was reported within hours that the league was looking into him for improper use of the injured list.

It is unclear which specific players were involved or what the specifics of the transgressions were. A “phantom IL” placement has been sort of an open secret in baseball for decades. If a player is having trouble finding their rhythm and cannot be demoted to the minors due to being out of options or having more than five years of service time, then a club may place him on the injured list with some sort of vague injury such as “neck stiffness” or “back tightness”, then send him on a rehab assignment to get some work in the minors and try to get things back on track.

Deesha Thosar of Fox Sports relays that she spoke to different players about the issue who agreed that “every team does it” and expressed confusion as to why Eppler was being punished so severely. To this point, it is unknown at this time if the practice was utilized and taken to some unprecedented level or if this is the start of the league planning a bigger crackdown on the practice league-wide.

According Joel Sherman and Dan Martin of The New York Post, the league was told about the practice with the Mets after receiving an anonymous letter, so it is possible that the club simply got caught in a way that the league felt had to be dealt with. Commissioner Rob Manfred discussed the investigation back in October, saying he wanted the department of investigations to “figure out whether we have a bigger problem” regarding injured list usage.

Time will tell whether this issue will start to run rampant, similar to the steroid era, or if it goes down as an isolated incident. For now, it seems like no other members of the Mets will receive any punishment. By being on the ineligible list for the remainder of the 2024 season, Eppler will not be able to get a job with any other MLB club until then.