It’s not always fair to judge baseball operations leaders for free agent signings. In many cases, the biggest contracts are negotiated to varying extents by ownership. The same can hold true of major extensions. It’s just tough to know from the outside.
There’s obviously involvement from above in trade scenarios as well. But when it comes to exchanging rights to some players for others, it stands to reason, the role of the general manager is all the more clear.
In any event, for what it’s worth, it seemed an opportune moment to take a look back at the trade track records of some of the general managers around the game. After covering the Diamondbacks’ Mike Hazen, former Astros GM Jeff Luhnow and the Brewers’ David Stearns, we’ll move to Billy Eppler of the Angels. (In chronological order and excluding minor deals. Full details at transaction link.)
2015-16 Offseason
- Acquired SS Andrelton Simmons and C Jose Briceno from Braves for LHP Sean Newcomb, RHP Chris Ellis and SS Erick Aybar
- Acquired INF Yunel Escobar from Nationals for RHPs Trevor Gott and Michael Brady
2016 Season
- Acquired INF Brendan Ryan from Nationals for cash considerations/player to be named later
- Acquired RHP Jhoulys Chacin from Braves for LHP Adam McCreery
- Acquired RHP Jesus Castillo from Cubs for RHP Joe Smith
- Acquired RHPs Ricky Nolasco and Alex Meyer from Twins for LHP Hector Santiago and RHP Alan Busenitz
- Acquired RHP Erik Manoah from Mets for RHP Fernando Salas
2016-17 Offseason
- Acquired OF Cameron Maybin from Tigers for RHP Victor Alcantara
- Acquired INF Danny Espinosa from Nationals for RHPs Austin Adams and Kyle McGowin
- Acquired C Martin Maldonado and RHP Drew Gagnon from Brewers for C Jett Bandy
2017 Season
- Acquired RHP David Hernandez from Braves for cash/PTBNL
- Acquired RHP Luis Madero from Diamondbacks for RHP David Hernandez
- Acquired OF Justin Upton from Tigers for RHPs Grayson Long and Elvin Rodriguez
- Acquired INF Brandon Phillips from Braves for C Tony Sanchez
2017-18 Offseason
- Acquired RHP Felix Pena from Cubs for PTBNL
- Acquired RHP Jim Johnson and $1.21MM in international bonus pool space from Braves for LHP Justin Kelly
- Acquired 2B Ian Kinsler from Tigers for RHP Wilkel Hernandez and OF Troy Montgomery
- Acquired INF Luis Rengifo from Rays for 1B C.J. Cron
2018 Season
- Acquired INF Ryan Schimpf from Braves for C Carlos Perez
- Acquired RHP Deck McGuire from Blue Jays for cash considerations
- Acquired LHP Patrick Sandoval and $250K in international pool money from Astros for C Martin Maldonado
- Acquired RHP Ty Buttrey and LHP Williams Jerez from Red Sox for 2B Ian Kinsler
2018-19 Offseason
- Acquired LHP Dillon Peters from Marlins for RHP Tyler Stevens
- Acquired INF Tommy La Stella from Cubs for cash/PTBNL
- Acquired RHP Luis Garcia from Phillies for LHP Jose Alvarez
- Acquired RHP Chris Stratton from Giants for LHP Williams Jerez
2019 Season
- Acquired C Anthony Bemboom from Rays for cash considerations
- Acquired C Max Stassi from Astros for OFs Rainier Rivas and Raider Uceta
2019-20 Offseason
- Acquired RHP Dylan Bundy from Orioles for RHPs Zach Peek, Kyle Bradish and Kyle Brnovich
- Acquired LHP Garrett Williams and cash considerations from Giants for INF Zack Cozart and SS Will Wilson
- Acquired RHP Matt Andriese from Diamondbacks for RHP Jeremy Beasley
What do you think of Eppler’s history as a trader? (Poll link for app users)
Grade Billy Eppler's overall track record in trades
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C 43% (2,112)
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B 30% (1,466)
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D 14% (683)
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A 8% (411)
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F 6% (275)
Total votes: 4,947
He traded Rainier and Raider? Give em a F!
But he also signed both.
We will see. Not much to judge.
He did steal Sandoval from the Astros.
A player who fits what the Astros like to do.
Have to let him use that curve
Sandoval steals signs?
There it is
What’s his best moves? Buttrey and la Stella seem like great buy lows for him. What were biggest pluses and minuses on these trades.
Simmons, both Maldonado trades, gave up little to acquire and got Sandoval back later. Buttrey, Rengifo solid as well.
Not a real follower of the angels but from a distance it appears the owner has his fingers in most on field decisions……….seriously does it not start and stop with their inability to sign and cultivate pitching?
Starts with their inability to develop players in their minor league system
David Fletcher right now is the only position player
Started getting some looks at pitchers but like with all their pitchers Canning is injured.
They can’t develop pitchers and keep them healthy is to me their main struggle.
But they do have a lot of players with upside in their system
They have a guy named Mike Trout that they drafted. He’s decent. Matt Thaiss also. As far as pitchers, there’s a few bullpen arms that were drafted… Bedrosian, Middleton and Anderson. Canning, if he ever stays healthy.
Waiting in the wings is Adell, Marsh, Adams, Jackson, Jones and Paris. All outfielders and middle infielders.
The 26th ranked farm system… but with upside.
nope! like most other owners he had his hand in signing high level free agents such as rendon. and the article even mentions it.
Simmons trade is best one he made for sure.
And here I am thinking that trade was terrible for the Angels at the time, and the Shelby Miller trade was great for the Dbacks. Pegged those two way wrong.
Best thing the Angels have done under him is slowly rebuild their minor leagues.
In terms of trades not much there.
C+ probably
he traded away so many pitchers. granted, none seem likely to get any future all star votes but the minor league teams need some warm bodies.
Then sign them to an NRI deal
He’s tough to judge because of Moreno. Given the Angels long standing lack of high end pitching acquisitions among multiple GMs, to me it’s always felt like Moreno either A. Doesn’t believe in spending on pitching and/or B. Thinks he can win with just offense
His actual trades aren’t really that bad. The angels issues have been their lack of pitching moves… and Arte jumping in on the likes of Hamilton, Pujols, Upton etc and therefore handicapping his GM, if anything
Simmons+ no real big losses as a trader has me give him a solid B
LOL. Students around the country would love some of you, the way you hand out B’s like candy. Billy is a C, adjusted for having Mike Trout.
End of story.
theres a lot of people out there who don’t consider a C an average job done. many who have never gotten one probably consider it below average.
my son hasn’t had any grade below a- from the preschool all through the college. and he is by no means a nerd playing multiple sports.
Your son went to a pre-school with A-F grading? Where was it? Russia?
have heard of pass grades? anyway, he was also a tutor for his classmates. in high school, he took ap classes as a freshman with seniors and tutoring them after classes.
Yeah and I bet he helps the poor and donates to charity. get off his nuts jeez
“”Hey, you got a C on this test, adjusted by adding some other answers you got correct. I omitted them in the original grade…for no reason.”
A whole lotta meh in there.
That’s what she said
Love the originality here.
Good record of acquiring MLB players without giving up much. The Upton deal was also a steal. Weak farm means no blockbuster trades. But like in poker, anyone can win AA, it’s the consistent winning with subpar hands that measures well here.
The Joc Pederson and Ross Stripling trade easily is his best one
Oh wait……..
I wouldn’t say that yet.
Rengifo so far in limited action has a decent WAR
Simmons is probably gone if not in July than at the end of the year.
You are then without a solid SS unless you consider Fletcher one but you also have LaStella. I wouldn’t count on both players. Maybe 1 out of the 2.
I would take Rengifo over both right nowu.
That was for a one year rental with Joc that puts Goodwin on the bench.
Stripling I agree but who else was going to the Dodgers.
Could end up a blessing in disguise.
Dodgers wanted Rengifo.
Did they value him as their future at SS or were they looking to flip him for a bigger piece.
They wanted him as their next Kikè.
“That was for a one year rental with Joc”
Which would have been perfect. Joc and his monster numbers against righties mans RF with Goodwin the 4th OF, then splits time with Adell as he gets his sea legs. If all 800 things that have to go right do and the Angels find themselves in the hunt, Joc gets flipped in June/July as part of a package for pitching. Woulda been lovely.
“Dodgers wanted Rengifo.”
And the Angels were thiiiiis close to giving him to them, which leads me to believe the order of business for the Angels is a Simmons extension, provided he’s clearly past his foot injury from ’19, and Rengifo ends up as…you guessed it…part of a package for pitching.
Schimpf came from the Padres npt the Braves
It was most certainly a trade with the Braves, read the article linked there.
Happy Birthday Brendan Ryan
When bundy wins 2020 and 2021 cy young. That will be his greatest trade. Zach davies josh hader curt schilling and jake arrieta all enjoyed the oriole trade curse.
… starting pitching.
Trade for Trade, Eppler’s done a pretty good job. Farm system has slowly improved the last few years. Free agent signings and the amount of money the Angels have thrown around has been their undoing.
obviously not a lot of huge steals, but that fact that there are basically no big losses or even moderate ones really reflects well on Eppler’s ability to get something for nothing. may not have the big win to mark most guys an A, but the small wins that mark each trade seem worthy of an A in my mind.
He hasn’t really made any horrible one sided trades on either end of the spectrum but it’s pretty impressive that he hasn’t made a single bad trade trade on the Angels end. That being said, you can’t build a club through free agency so he needs to really work on his farm system. The Angels Achilles heel has always been pitching.
Is his worst deal really trading Jose Alvarez for Luis Garcia?
Here’s a guy who hasn’t made any bad trades… but hasn’t made any great ones either I guess.
I would’ve like to see some statistic measure (WAR?) of what was traded and received. Simmons is a landslide win.
Rengifo for CJ looks to be a win.
Buttrey for Kinsler, win.
Maldonado for Bandy, win
Maldonado for Sandoval, win.
La Stella for PTBNL, win.
Sandoval for Maldonado*
Considering he had basically no tradable assets when he started the job this is pretty impressive. He turned a bunch of nobodies into several MLB regulars.
Yeah nothing flashy at all, but you can’t acquire studs with nothing to send in return.
IMO most glaring weakness is Eppler’s failure to develop young pitching, but based solely on the above why a “C”?
A bunch of never were’s.
If we’re rating his overall performance as a general manager, then it’s a C because of Moreno- Eppler has been passable, but not great
If we’re rating his trade history, then it’s a B. I don’t see one trade in that group that appears to be horrible for Eppler. Rengifo, Simmons and Sandoval are clear W’s.
Agreed. It’s great when someone can articulate a cogent comment.
Eppler’s track record involving trades is a solid C. However, he gets a D signing free agents. 2019 was a disaster. Harvey, Allen, Cahill and Bour were awful. Harvey and Allen were both released and were owed 16+ million. Cahill was mostly well below average and Bour spent the majority of his season in AAA where he was bad.
The problem with this type of survey is that it separates the signings from the trades. In the survey above, Eppler gets credit for getting rid of Cozart in a trade, but it ignores that fact that Billy was the one who signed his 3 year contract for 38 million (considered one of the top 5 worst Angel signings in the past decade).