Usurped Eppler quits as Mets GM
Billy Eppler quit as New York Mets general manager Thursday, three days after David Stearns was hired above him as the team’s first president of baseball operations. Eppler’s decision continues an overhaul that followed a fourth-place NL East finish for a team with playoff expectations and World Series aspirations. Mets owner Steve Cohen fired manager Buck Showalter on Sunday, saying Stearns deserved to bring in his own manager.
“I wanted David to have a clean slate and that meant me stepping down,” Eppler said in a statement released by the team.
Cohen had long talked about hiring a president of baseball operations above Eppler and had said baseball operations leadership had become too large a job for one person. Eppler attended the Monday news conference at Citi Field to introduce Stearns, who discussed working in tandem.
“Billy and I have had I think a really nice relationship going back years as competitors. Talking to each other, whether it’s about transactions or just about industry events,” said Stearns, the former Milwaukee Brewers boss who also held front-office positions in Houston and Cleveland. “I have a lot of respect for the experience he has in this game, the experience he has in New York, and I’m looking forward to working with him.”
Just a few days later, Eppler is out. “He decided it is in everyone’s best interest to fully hand over the leadership of baseball operations to David Stearns,” Cohen said in a statement.
The Mets gave Eppler 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. The Mets went 101-61 in 2022, but after leading the NL East for all but six days, they were caught at the finish by Atlanta, then lost to San Diego in their NL Wild Card Series.
New York boosted payroll to a major league-record $355 million for the start of 2023, adding pitchers Justin
Verlander, Kodai Senga, and José Quintana, but faded by midsummer, traded veterans, and finished 75-87.
Verlander gets Game 1
Verlander will start Game 1 of the AL Division Series against the Minnesota Twins on Saturday, Astros manager Dusty Baker announced, with lefthander Framber Valdez going in Game 2 Sunday night.
It will be the 35th career postseason start for Verlander, who returned to the AL West champions in a trade from the Mets this summer. The threetime Cy Young Award winner, 40, was 7-3 with a 3.31 ERA in 11 starts for Houston after the trade.
The Twins, who won two games over the Blue Jays in the Wild Card Series to advance, have not announced their starters for the series.
Valdez, 29, was 12-11 with a 3.45 ERA in 31 starts this season. He threw a no-hitter in August
Melvin confirms return
Bob Melvin confirmed he will be back as manager of the Padres, adding that he’s “looking forward to having a much better year than we had this year.” General manager A.J. Preller announced Wednesday that Melvin would be back under the final season of his contract following the most disappointing year in franchise history; his return comes amid published reports that he and Preller’s relationship had become irreparable. “We’re fine and we’re moving forward and we’re both excited about it,” said Melvin, who has guided the Padres to the only two winning records in a full season under Preller . . . Calum Scott, the British singer whose “Dancing On My Own” is played and sung along to after the final out in each postseason game at Citizens Bank Park, said he will perform for the Phillies if they win the World Series. “I think at that point, you’ll have to hold me back,” he said. The team sent Scott a jersey last season, after Kyle Schwarber brought the song with him from the Red Sox and it was embraced during Philadelphia’s run to the National League pennant.