Does the Mets' success this year change your opinion of Billy Eppler?

[Taylor]

I mean, it has to, right? The Mets seem to have an owner who knows how to spend money to win, and Eppler's off-season moves make him look like a genius.

Obviously, it's too early to see how the Mets' farm system changes over the next several years under Eppler. But from a Big League standpoint, it's hard to come to any conclusion other than Eppler's time here was hamstrung by terrible ownership. Either that or he's been incredibly lucky so far this season.

[tdawg87]

No, he was always a good GM. 

[Taylor]

1 minute ago, tdawg87 said:

No, he was always a good GM. 

I agree. It only proves my opinion. This thread is directed at those who thought otherwise.

[PattyD22]

Nope.  It just reminds me of every other ex-Angels person who goes on to bigger and better things when they leave.

The latest being 2022 All Star CJ Cron.

[eligrba]

I hate to even mention it but you can add Diputo to the list.

[UndertheHalo]

22 minutes ago, PattyD22 said:

Nope.  It just reminds me of every other ex-Angels person who goes on to bigger and better things when they leave.

The latest being 2022 All Star CJ Cron.

Old friend alert 

[Stradling]

28 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

No, he was always a good GM. 

Yep. 

[UndertheHalo]

Oh wow.  I can’t believe being able to sign a bunch of good players yields results.  
 

Cohen not fucking around with Andrew Velasquez and Matt Duffy.  Much to consider. 

[greginpsca]

When you have payroll flexibility, you don't have to resort to dumpster diving. Right now, i think Billy is sitting back and thinking how nice it is to not have to sign the Daniel Nava's & Craig Gentry's of the baseball world.

[halomatt]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

Yep. 

Yep.  It was shortsighted of Arte to let Eppler go.  At least that's the view from the outside.  No idea what the real scoop was that led to him being let go. 

[Stradling]

2 minutes ago, halomatt said:

Yep.  It was shortsighted of Arte to let Eppler go.  At least that's the view from the outside.  No idea what the real scoop was that led to him being let go. 

What’s funny as much as I liked Eppler I was ok with letting him go, it made sense to me after five years.  

[halomatt]

3 minutes ago, Stradling said:

What’s funny as much as I liked Eppler I was ok with letting him go, it made sense to me after five years.  

Sure. I thought the same thing.  However, I couldn't identify any one thing (or even a series of things) that he was directly responsible for, in which he completely failed.  Some might point to the pitching and the "clean peanuts".  However, we also have to take into account the lack of trade-able assets and Moreno's reluctance to spend on anything but "star" talent.  So how much was really Eppler's fault and not the fault of circumstances or timing or the whimsical behavior of the owner? 

[cysomeawfulpitcher]

Many former Angels who slumped here became better afterwards so...no.

[DMVol]

Eppler is ok, DiPoto is ok, Minasian, who knows….but none of them can make chicken salad out of chicken sh*t…you need to be better thank ok to win with a top heavy payroll of underperforming guys like Pujols, Hamilton, Upton and now, Rendon…and with a weak farm system that has to be rebuilt….and an owner who seemingly encouraged the bad spending decisions, limiting payroll flexibility. 

[Second Base]

Eppler brought in Shohei, extended Trout, rebuilt the farm system, re-established a Latin American presence, and most importantly, brought in Kevin Maitan. 

He was always a good GM. Good blend of scouting and analytics. So is Minasian. 

So now all he has to do is win. 

 

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

When you have NO BUDGET!!!! 

 

It's easy to WIN....

[Dtwncbad]

The Mets payroll is $260m.

I wonder what an Angels GM could do with an extra $70m per year to spend on plugging holes with All Stars?

[WicketMaiden]

It's perfectly reasonable to assume that Eppler has improved and is now a better GM because of the errors he made with the Angels. I can't think of a single thing one is not better at the second time around, especially in the management sphere. 

Same will be true for Minasian now. He's new to this, he'll make mistakes, hopefully not disastrous ones, and hopefully ones he will learn from quickly and correct effectively. When you hire rookie managers you have to accept there will be a few bruises now their training wheels are finally off.

[Chuck]

To answer the question, yes. 

[Dtwncbad]

Moreno has to give Minasian an open check book right now if he really wants to win in the next couple of years.

It’s that simple.  The organization has too many holes in the mlb roster and they don’t have the prospect capital to acquire what they need with trades.

It is spend like a drunken sailor time. . . or batten down the hatches for 4-5 years of player development, something the Angels have not been good at, while simultaneously squandering prime Trout/Ohtani years.

Spend.  Don’t be afraid to look like the insane owner obsessed with winning now.  And actually, given the circumstances it will be clear to many that the huge spending isn’t insane at all, but rather the only sane path to win now.

[T.G.]

4 minutes ago, WicketMaiden said:

It's perfectly reasonable to assume that Eppler has improved and is now a better GM because of the errors he made with the Angels. I can't think of a single thing one is not better at the second time around, especially in the management sphere. 

Same will be true for Minasian now. He's new to this, he'll make mistakes, hopefully not disastrous ones, and hopefully ones he will learn from quickly and correct effectively. When you hire rookie managers you have to accept there will be a few bruises now their training wheels are finally off.

Great points.  Moreno hired someone without experience in the big chair... he can't expect perfection.  There has to be growing pains.  There's no way around it.

[Dtwncbad]

How would the Angels look overall right now if Moreno had opened the checkbook enough to land both Scherzer and Lindor?

I bet we all would be talking about what the Angels need at the trade deadline to make a real run.

My point is the Mets owner opened up the checkbook.  I don’t know how their success is really attributed to Billy Eppler specifically.

[Erstad Grit]

He almost ruined the Mets with the Mariners trade. He's a hack. 

[Stradling]

28 minutes ago, Erstad Grit said:

He almost ruined the Mets with the Mariners trade. He's a hack. 

Who almost ruined the Mets with the Mariners trade?  

[m0nkey]

And with the way Kelenic is(n't) developing, trade isn't looking as bad