The Mets have come under heavy fire over the last couple seasons for a toxic work culture, which includes two former members of the organization – ex-manager Mickey Callaway and former GM Jared Porter – now on MLB's ineligible list and a third, former acting GM Zack Scott, in limbo after a DUI arrest this summer.
The team finally hired a new general manager this week in Billy Eppler, but as pointed out by one member of the media during the introductory presser, Eppler was the GM in Los Angeles when the Angels hired Callaway as their pitching coach, and was he GM under whose watch pitcher Tyler Skaggs died after a drug overdose linked to a pipeline provided by former communications director Eric Kay.
Eppler has been highly-regarded as a front office staffer despite a tough tenure in LA – his former boss, Brian Cashman, heavily praised him Thursday night – but this is indeed a pair of facts that could cast a pall on the hire.
However, in that intro presser, owner Steve Cohen gave Eppler a vote of confidence based on the Mets doing "due diligence" about everything related to the new GM during the hiring process:
"We've done our due diligence. It's an organization and Billy was just one person there," Cohen said. "We vetted it in multiple ways, spoke to a lot of people around the organization at that time and people within baseball. We're incredibly comfortable with Billy's decision-making, his ethics, and his integrity."
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Indeed, as Cohen mentioned in both the intro presser and his appearance on WFAN's Moose & Maggie Show shortly thereafter, the people he spoke to around the recent MLB GM Meetings all had praise for Eppler as news of his hiring began to circulate.
"People came up unsolicited to tell me we hired a real pro and a great guy," Cohen said. "I'm really happy where we ended up. We were very methodical and got to the right place."
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