Reese Kaplan -- Grading Rookie Billy Eppler's First Season

For all that has gone well for the Mets during the 2022 season, not everyone is 100% on board the praise for the front office given the number of struggles the team has had to withstand with both offense and pitching.  

While the GM cannot control what the players do on the field nor their overall health, what he can control is how he fills the roster with players and how he addresses the challenges faced when things don't proceed as planned.

Given the uneven level of productivity from various players and the rash of injuries the squad has faced, some perhaps deserved criticism has settled upon Billy Eppler during his rookie year as General Manager.  

When he was brought into New York from the Angels no one was exactly doing cartwheels upon his arrival.  The narrative folks were asked to accept is that owner Arte Moreno was an interfering and disruptive influence on his management team.  We are supposed to believe that the Angels would have been better under Eppler's guidance had Moreno kept more of a back seat.

Hmmn...well, let's see.  During Eppler's tenure his second time approaching the Angels for the GM job, he got five years with Los Angeles.  The team under his guidance had Mike Trout, Shoei Ohtani, Anthony Rendon, Andrelton Simmons and Justin Upton.  Many folks felt that with the roster assembled the club should have been a cinch contender for the division championship year after year.  

Unfortunately the reality was not nearly as kind.  He finished in 4th place 4 times and in 2nd place once.  He never reached the postseason and was fired by the Angels at the conclusion of the 2020 season.  

From there Eppler went onto work for William Morris Endeavor as a business partner.  Apparently either he was dissatisfied with his time period there doing that kind of work or he simply missed his time in a front office.  

The Mets, operating seemingly more in the proven loser Wilpon way of doing things, reached out to lure him in for a GM interview and job offer.  People in the media and the fan base both scratched their heads in confusion as to why Steve Cohen and Sandy Alderson would engage someone with a truly mediocre track record to lead the roster composition.  

So how did Eppler do for the Mets during this season?  Well, he indicated during his interview that he wasn't against investing big money for top notch star ballplayers but also understood that it took a balance of steady regular performers as well.  

Eppler's start by inking Max Scherzer and Starling Marte were met with unanimous applause as they were indeed the best of the best at their positions.  Then came the next tier of signings which were not as universally embraced.  

Eduardo Escobar has been a solid albeit low-average power hitter and Mark Canha was greeted mostly with a big, "Who?" from Mets fans.  The trade for former teammate Chris Bassitt, however, was loudly praised.  The rest of the roster was filled out with a bunch of low cost veteran players who were supplemental rather than key contributors.  

Everyone felt pretty good going into the season and expected to contend.  They felt even better when he announced the release of failed PED abuser Robinson Cano.

Consequently if you judge Eppler on his off-season moves with the Mets in first place in late September you would have to say he did a good job as a Mets rookie GM.  However, the season is not simply about building a roster in the winter and forget about the team afterwards.  

Injuries and poor performances happen.  A truly great GM needs to re-engineer what isn't working and make enhancements to push the team up to the next level.

Did Eppler do that well?  By most folks' frustration level, the answer would be a big fat "No!"  

At the trading deadline he was expected to push hard to get more productivity out of the DH position that had contributed very little all year long.  When he opted to get over-30 sluggers Daniel Vogelbach and Darin Ruf to platoon in that role, people were less than thrilled.  

While both had moments demonstrating enviable home run power, neither contributed much in the way of batting average.  After relatively hot starts, both fell flat for most of August and September.  Gaining these players meant sacrificing players from a major and minor league roster who could have been used perhaps more productively.  

J.D. Davis, for one, has been rock solid for the Giants while the Mets have gotten very little out of their end of the deals.  

Mychal Givens was added as a bullpen reinforcement Buck Showalter knew well, but he's been so poor upon his arrival that most folks assume he will fall into the failed rental category for the final few months of this soon-to-be-over season.  

He's got a 1-1 record for the Mets with a 5.03 ERA and a ghastly 1.475 WHIP.  About all he's done well is throwing strikes but he's given up 23 hits in less than 20 innings of work prior to his move to the IL this week.  

So as good as the preseason was for Eppler, throw in the mediocre performance and relatively big money given to Escobar, the mediocrity of the trading deadline acquisitions and the fact he's emptied out several of his prospective 2022/2023 offseason minor league prospects, you have to ask the question what grade to give the man?  

If you use grade school marks and offer a light A for the offseason and an F for the midseason, that would average out to a C -- average performance.  Personally I think being in first place nearly since the season began is worth a bit more than individual roster pros and cons, so I would say a B- showing strong effort but certainly room for improvement.

As the Mets look for a new President of Baseball Operations to replace the retiring Sandy Alderson many would advocate cutting ties with Eppler and bringing in someone more uniformly consistent in performance.  

The Mets gave Eppler a 4-year deal and after keeping them on top of the division with all of the major injuries (including a pair of multiple Cy Young Award winners), that would be pretty foolish and a poor business investment.  It appears that there needs to be a come-to-Jesus meeting with the man to reinforce what he's done well but to spell out in clear and uncertain terms where he's dropped the ball.  

There is obviously some good thinking there during the offseason.  Now he needs to make the same kind of shrewd decisions on the fly when needs arise.