Former Angels general manager Billy Eppler has joined the William Morris Endeavor agency, reports FanSided’s Robert Murray (Twitter link). Eppler, who was dismissed by the Angels last year, will now work on the other side of the negotiating table, it seems. Liz Mullen of Sports Business Journal further reports that WME has hired agents Jim Murray and Michael Stival, both formerly of Excel Sports Management, adding some more names to their growing baseball practice. WME also hired Kent Matthes from CAA earlier in the year.
While the WME talent agency (formerly WMA before acquiring IMG and rebranding in 2014) has been around for more than a century, the company’s foray into representing baseball players is still relatively fresh. Carlos Correa hired Jon Rosen of WME to represent him back in 2019.
It’s not yet clear which, if any clients from the former agencies of Murray, Stival and Matthes will now be represented under the WME banner, but given the recent spate of hires it seems the firm is intent on rapidly broadening its baseball branch. Whether Eppler will directly represent players moving forward or will work with the agency’s player representatives in another capacity remains to be seen, but for the time being it appears this takes him out of the running for any team-side opportunities that may arise elsewhere in the league.
I thought he joined the WWE at first. WWE is already boring enough without having stat-obsessed, algorithm-worshipping dorks collecting salaries and ruining the product.
“We’ll, the fans want The Undertaker to come back, but according to BLORG7 and X^DZ ratings, we should have The Blue Meanie return instead.”
I read the same for half a second. That’s what wrestling is missing – analytics.
Love BLORG7
Looking at his picture he would definitely be a baby face.
I use BLORG7+
When I first read the headline, I figured he would be repped by WME, and not actually joining them as an agent. Wow…. must be tough these days finding an MLB gig.
Pays probably similar and you don’t have a billionaire screaming at you why did my master plan not work!?!?
Can’t and do not want are two very different things
Might pay similar. For a living, I regularly work with agents from the top talent agencies (CAA, WME, UTA, ICM, etc.) and I know those agents get slaved, way too much pressure. I would never want to make the leap to an agency—people don’t last long unless they are one of the partners. Anyway best of luck to Eppler, but don’t be surprised to see him sign on as an assistant GM by early next year.
Billy Eppler, a.k.a. Bizzaro Brodie VanWagner
king billy will line his pockets and rise again
The architect for signing Shohei Ohtani in Angel red.
He’ll be back in MLB.
Pretty much the only correct decision he made
I almost thought it said WWE.