After taking a forced sabbatical in 2024, Billy Eppler is officially back in Major League Baseball.
Andy Martino of SportsNet New York reported on Sunday that the former New York Mets general manager Eppler has landed a job with the Milwaukee Brewers. Eppler will now serve as a special advisor in scouting and in baseball operations for the Brewers.
The 49-year-old Eppler was the GM of the Mets from 2021-23 but had a very bumpy tenure that featured multiple losing seasons and several failed veteran additions, including Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Darin Ruf, and Omar Narvaez. Eppler’s tenure with the Mets ended when he abruptly resigned in Oct. 2023, and we soon learned that he was under investigation by MLB for deliberately fabricating injuries over a two-year stretch with the team. Eppler would ultimately be banned for the 2024 MLB season over his actions.
Prior to his Mets stint, Eppler served as GM of the Los Angeles Angels from 2015-20. That tenure was a failure too though as the Angels never once made the postseason while Eppler was in charge (despite having both prime Mike Trout and early-career Shohei Ohtani), leading to Eppler’s eventual firing.
Meanwhile, the Brewers, a 93-win team last season that has won three of the last four NL Central crowns, already have a strong foundation in place. They also have an excellent young talent base to work with, giving them a sustainable window for contention.
In his new position with the Brewers, Eppler returns to a role that he had greater success with in the past (he served as director of professional scouting for the New York Yankees before becoming an MLB GM). Eppler also now heads to the old stomping grounds of the man who replaced him as the lead executive of the Mets.
