Eppler placed on Ineligible List for '24 following investigation

NEW YORK -- Former Mets general manager Billy Eppler has been placed on Major League Baseball’s ineligible list through the end of the 2024 season due to violations of MLB’s injured list rules, according to the results of an investigation released Friday.

The four-month probe revealed that Eppler improperly assigned players to the injured list during his tenure as Mets GM, fabricated injuries and submitted false documentation to those ends, according to MLB’s release. The league did not provide specific examples of this conduct but concluded that Eppler’s actions were of his own volition and not influenced by team ownership.

Eppler will be ineligible to hold an MLB or club office through the end of the 2024 World Series, unless he is reinstated prior to that by Commissioner Rob Manfred. Eppler fully cooperated with the league’s investigation.

Eppler, 48, served as Mets general manager from November 2021 through October 2023. He had been set to retain his title under new president of baseball operations David Stearns, acting as Stearns’ second-in-command in the front office, before abruptly resigning once MLB began its investigation.

The Mets issued the following statement:

"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."

Prior to joining the Mets, Eppler spent five years as Angels GM and 11 in the Yankees’ front office, rising to the rank of assistant GM in the Bronx.

Stearns has not hired a general manager to replace Eppler, relying instead this winter on assistant GMs Ian Levin and Ben Zauzmer, senior vice president of baseball operations Jonathan Strangio, and other holdovers from previous regimes. Strangio was one of Eppler’s key front-office hires shortly after his own appointment as GM.

Stearns is the Mets’ sixth acting head of baseball operations in a little more than three years, following Brodie Van Wagenen, Sandy Alderson, Jared Porter, Zack Scott and Eppler.