New York Mets general manager Billy Eppler has resigned amid the MLB investigation, sources say

New York Mets general manager Billy Eppler has resigned amid the MLB investigation, sources say Mets general manager resigns after disastrous season AP sources said Eppler resigned amid the MLB investigation Related press Thursday, October 5, 2023 11:34 PM EDT Billy Eppler left his post as general manager of the New York Mets on Thursday and a person familiar with the investigation said he is being investigated by Major League Baseball. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation. The person did not reveal the nature of the investigation, but the New York Post was first to report on Thursday that Eppler was being investigated by MLB for improper use of the injured list. His surprising resignation comes three days after David Stearns was hired at Eppler as the Mets' first president of baseball operations. Eppler spent the past two seasons running baseball operations for New York as general manager. Eppler's move continues an overhaul following a fourth-place finish in the NL East for a team with playoff expectations and World Series ambitions. Mets owner Steve Cohen fired manager Buck Showalter on Sunday, saying Stearns deserved to bring in his own manager. “I want David to start over and that means I will resign,” Eppler said in a statement released by the team. Cohen has long talked about hiring a president of baseball operations for Eppler and said running baseball operations has become too big a task for one person. Eppler attended Monday's press conference at Citi Field to introduce Stearns, who discussed working with Eppler. “I think Billy and I have had a really great relationship over the years as competitors. Talk to each other, whether it's deals or just industry events,” said Stearns, the former Milwaukee Brewers owner who also held front office positions in Houston and Cleveland. “I have a lot of respect for his experience in this game, the experience he had in New York, and I look forward to working with him.” But a few days later, Eppler was absent. “He decided that it was in everyone's best interest to turn over full leadership of baseball operations to David Stearns,” Cohen said in a statement. Eppler, 48, worked in scouting and player development for the Colorado Rockies from 2000 to 2004, then joined the New York Yankees. He was director of professional scouting from 2006 to 2011 and assistant general manager under Brian Cashman from 2012 to 2014. Eppler became the general manager of the Los Angeles Angels from 2015 to 2020, then was fired after five losing seasons. The Mets signed him to a four-year contract in November 2021 to become their fifth head of baseball operations in 13 months. He signed ace Max Scherzer and outfielder Starling Marte among his first moves, and the Mets went 101-61 in 2022 — the second-most wins in franchise history. But after leading the NL East for nearly six days, they were caught by Atlanta, then lost to the San Diego Padres in their NL wild-card series. New York boosted payroll to a major league record $355 million at the start of the 2023 season, adding pitchers Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga and José Quintana, but faded by midsummer, trading for veteran and finished with a score of 75-87. “I consider it a feature, not a bug, that there are people with different diets here. That's a good thing for us,” Stearns said Monday. “We have different views. We come from different backgrounds. As long as we respect that in each other and understand that different parts of our organization are going to look at the problems we face a little differently, that's actually a good thing. So I'm very excited about that. And I think it will make us better. I hope you liked this article. Before we continue, I hope you will consider making the decision to support the Guardian's journalism. From Elon Musk to Rupert Murdoch, a handful of billionaire owners keep a wealth of information available to the public about what's happening in the world. Guardians are different. We have no billionaire owners or shareholders to consider. Our journalism is produced in the public interest and not for profit. And we avoid the trap that faces many American media organizations: the tendency born of a desire to please everyone, indulging in false equivalencies in the name of neutrality. 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