Commissioner Rob Manfred announced that former Mets general manager Billy Eppler has been placed on the suspended list until the end of the 2024 World Series for violating injured list rules.
MLB issued a release saying its Bureau of Investigation interviewed more than 30 people and that Eppler and the Mets fully cooperated in the process.
Eppler was found to have engaged in improper use of the injured list, including intentionally fabricating injuries. Submission of relevant documentation aimed at securing multiple inappropriate injury list placements during the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Eppler could ask for an early return, and Manfred would likely consider it.
MLB said its investigation concluded that this pattern of behavior was solely at the direction of Eppler and that the Mets’ owner or superiors were not involved in any way.
The former GM resigned in October amid a Major League Baseball investigation into IL use.
Eppler’s sudden resignation comes days after David Stearns was named the team’s new president of baseball operations. The two had expected Eppler to remain as GM and work together.
That plan came to an abrupt end when the league was informed of the IL’s suspicions in an anonymous letter, sources said.
After Eppler and the organization learned of the investigation, he resigned, but officials say he would have been fired had he not resigned.
Placing non-injured players on the IL allows teams to avoid potentially losing those players to other organizations and keep them under the club’s control.
During the World Series, Manfred said: [department of investigations] People think we need to finish the Mets and then decide if there’s a bigger problem.”
Eppler spent two seasons as the Mets’ GM, building a roster that won 101 games in his first year before a disappointing last year when the Mets collapsed despite the expensive addition of Justin Verlander to Max Scherzer’s rotation. contributed to the construction of
Both veteran right-handers were involved in trade-deadline sales, and the season ended with Carlos Mendoza replacing Buck Showalter as manager.
When Eppler was first hired, he brought some stability to a front office that was in turmoil.
He arrived in November 2021 after a lengthy search for a president of baseball operations without finding a candidate.
Eppler’s immediate predecessors, Jared Porter and Zack Scott, were both fired due to off-field issues.
In January 2021, Porter was found to have sexually harassed a female journalist while working for the Cubs.
Scott, who replaced Porter, was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving and forced to leave in September of the same year. He was later acquitted.
Prior to the duo, former manager Mickey Callaway was suspended and placed on MLB’s ineligible list in 2021 for sending inappropriate messages and photos to a female reporter.
