Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Billy Eppler

GM Trade History: Angels’ Billy Eppler

By | at

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

2016 Season

2016-17 Offseason

2017 Season

2017-18 Offseason

2018 Season

2018-19 Offseason

2019 Season

2019-20 Offseason

What do you think of Eppler’s history as a trader? (Poll link for app users)

Angels’ Arte Moreno On Joc Trade, Rotation, Eppler

By | at

The trade that would have sent Dodgers outfielder Joc Pederson and Ross Stripling to the Angels for infielder Luis Rengifo and outfield prospect Andy Pages appears to be dead. A report last week indicated Angels owner Arte Moreno was the one who put the kibosh on it. Moreno confirmed Monday that he did shoot down the LA-LA trade, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, though he wasn’t willing to say why.

“It wasn’t all impatience. There were other things,” Moreno said of the causes for the failed swap, which fell through as the Dodgers waited to acquire Mookie Betts and David Price from the Red Sox (that ended up happening). Now, according to Moreno,  the Angels have “moved on.”

Had the Angels gotten Stripling, he’d have looked like one of their most talented starters on paper. The club entered the offseason needing rotation help, and it has added a couple durable veterans in Julio Teheran and Dylan Bundy. It looks as if the the Angels continue to need front-end aid, though, especially with Shohei Ohtani set to stay off the mound for at least the first month and a half of the season.

The Halos did make a legitimate attempt to sign the No. 1 free agent available, right-handed ace Gerrit Cole, as they offered him $300MM over eight years back in December. But the Southern California native instead accepted the Yankees’ record-setting offer of nine years and $324MM. Moreno discussed the Angels’ Cole pursuit, indicating they simply couldn’t match the Yankees’ aggressiveness. “Walking in there and you knew, no matter what I bid, we’re going to get outbid,” he said. “We had a pretty big number out there.”

With the season getting closer, it may now be too late for the Angels to land an impact starter. However, if all goes well into the summer and the Angels are contending, Moreno’s hopeful they’ll find one via trade. The team has “the financial flexibility” for such an addition, according to Moreno, who noted it’s seeking someone “who can substantially help us, not a No. 4 or No. 5.”

General manager Billy Eppler may be tasked with finding that type of starter in a few months, but his future’s uncertain beyond 2020. The Angels exercised his option for this season late last year, though they haven’t made the playoffs since hiring Eppler before 2016, so he could be on shaky ground. It doesn’t seem they’re going to rush into an extension for him just yet. Rather, “As a group, we need to win,” said Moreno, who added, “I probably should fire myself” for the franchise’s recent performance.

New Rule Allows Angels To Keep Ohtani On Roster As Hitter While On Rehab Assignment

By | at

Angels’ GM Billy Eppler has been working with the Commissioner’s office on finding a solution to handling injured list stints for Shohei Ohtani, whom Eppler catalogues nicely as a player with a “dual distinction.”

With Ohtani in mind, the Commissioner’s office has passed a new rule that would allow Ohtani to pitch on a rehab assignment and return to the club as soon as the next day to perform as a hitter, said Eppler on the MLB Network Radio’s Power Alley (audio link). Essentially, the Angels can now treat Ohtani separately as a pitcher and hitter, sending him on a rehab assignment while keeping him on the roster.

Of course, that’s the hitch in the plan as well, that Ohtani would remain on the ML roster while pitching elsewhere, leaving the Angels roster down a man for a day. Eppler also reminds us that when he was healthy as a two-way star, the Angels preferred to give Ohtani a full day of rest the day before and after pitching assignments that took him past 65 pitches or so.

Still, the Angels now have the option to send Ohtani to the Pacific Coast League or the California league nearby without totally removing him from the roster. Whether that amount of travel behooves team or player in this case will be up to the Angels to decide.

Quick Hits: Angels, Ohtani, Rojas, Revenue, Lefties

By | at

A few brief words of update on the Angels. Billy Eppler said during a press conference call that the team is considering various options for Shohei Ohtani this season, including “delaying him a little bit”, relays Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register (link). We’ve already heard that the club plans to keep him on an NPB-esque pitching schedule this season as he continues to work back from Tommy John surgery, but it’s uncertain if “delay” in this case means he’ll be held out of action late into Spring Training, or further.

Meanwhile, Maria Torres of the LA Times reports, from that same call, that Eppler acknowledged that the team “can add” to its already “strong” group of pitchers (link). That’s not a definitive statement, and the club’s opportunities to add might be dwindling now that one more arm is off the open market as of Saturday evening. Torres also reports that 26-year-old prospect Jose Rojas will receive an invite to big league camp this spring after a Triple-A season in which he hit .293/.362/.577 with 31 home runs.

More from around the game…

  • Declining attendance be damned—MLB’s revenue streams are flowing fine. According to a Saturday piece from Forbes, gross revenues for the league were a record $10.7 billion for 2019, up from $10.3 billion last year, according to industry sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity. And the upward slant should continue in future years; as noted by Forbes, the league’s deal with Fox television kicks in during the 2022 season and that deal alone has a reported value of $5.1 billion. For those wondering, MLB player payroll and benefits came in at $4.7 billion last year—leaving plenty of pie to go around for administrators, front-office types and ownership figures. The league has seen adjusted revenue growth of 386% since 1992.
  • ESPN’s Sam Miller took a closer look at the forthcoming thee-batter rule, including its real-life implications for several veteran LOOGYs. Miller coins the term “Ollies” (in honor of Indians journeyman Oliver Perez) to represent any appearance that is set to be outlawed under the new rules–which require that pitchers face three batters or get the final out of an inning before being replaced. Perez led the league with 22 such “Ollies” in 2019, while Andrew Chafin, Alex Claudio and Adam Kolarek all logged 15 or more such appearances. Of course, the forthcoming change didn’t stop the Brewers from re-signing Claudio earlier this offseason, so we can all rest assured that left-handed specialists aren’t going anywhere for the time being.

Latest On Angels’ Pitching Pursuits

By | at

Saturday brought a celebratory mood to Anaheim, as the Angels conducted a press conference welcoming their newest second-best player, Anthony Rendon. While the presser included several interesting quotes on the part of Rendon–including his preference for Anaheim over LA due to its family-oriented atmosphere–the most interesting takeaway from the day may have been GM Billy Eppler’s statements indicating that the club remains “actively engaged” in the market for pitching. Jeff Fletcher of the OC Register passes along Eppler’s quotes, which indicate that Rendon’s signing will not preclude the club from going after impact pitching.

“We will continue to look at pitching,” Eppler is quoted as saying in Fletcher’s article. “I’m still actively engaged in that marketplace.” Eppler allowed that the club could have payroll space for two possible pitching acquisitions. Hyun-Jin Ryu, Madison Bumgarner, and Dallas Keuchel represent the high-end remaining options on the open market, and we’ve already heard the club connected to Indians hurler Corey Kluber today–even if a later report characterized the Halos as “out” in the Kluber trade race.

Regarding the trade market on pitching in general, Eppler said that asking prices are a bit too aggressive for LA’s liking at the moment. “The prices are a little rich right now,” Eppler said of the market. “I’m not sure I’m going to engage at the level clubs are asking right now, but I know I can play if I want to.” As for whether the free agent options available will prove too rich as well, we’ve already heard that Bumgarner is seeking to surpass the nine-figure mark with his next contract, although price estimates have been murkier in regard to Ryu and Keuchel. But Ryu’s old team, the Dodgers, don’t seem to be chomping at the bit at this stage to retain the Korean lefty–perhaps the chance to draw away both Rendon and Ryu from their rivals to the north would be an added delight for Eppler and Co.

As for the added appeal Rendon represents for Anaheim as a free agent destination, agent Scott Boras opined that the third baseman “absolutely” makes the Angels a more desirable club for pitchers–a statement noteworthy in that Boras represents both Keuchel and Ryu. “I think the Angels, in the pitching community, are viewed as a team that is very different than the team that entered the offseason,” Boras said. “No question.” As it stands now, the club projects to enter 2020 with Andrew Heaney, Griffin Canning, Patrick Sandoval, Jaime Barria, Shohei Ohtani, and the recently acquired Dylan Bundy as starting pitching options.

Angels Notes: Boras, Moreno, Trades, First Base

By | at

The latest on the Angels, who could be one of baseball’s busiest teams this winter…

  • There have long been rumors of animosity between Angels owner Arte Moreno and agent Scott Boras, stemming from the Angels’ fruitless pursuit of Mark Teixeira (a Boras client) in the 2008-09 offseason.  Any hard feelings seem to have either been exaggerated or a thing of the past, however, as Boras told the Los Angeles Times’ Maria Torres and other reporters that he had recently had lunch with Moreno, and has kept up a good working relationship with the owner.  “I sit down with the guy every year. I see him all the time. We have a common restaurant that we run into one another. So I wouldn’t read much into it,” Boras said.  With the Halos in need of pitching, keeping up relations with the agent would seemingly be a necessary step this winter, as such top arms as Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and Dallas Keuchel (not to mention position players like Anthony Rendon, Nicholas Castellanos, and Mike Moustakas) are all Boras Corporation clients.
  • Rather than free agents, Angels GM Billy Eppler also indicated that his team could be active on the trade front, noting the several young and controllable players both on the big league roster and in the upper levels of the farm system.  “We have probably the most valuable type of players you can trade,” Eppler told reporters, including the Orange County Register’s Jeff Fletcher.  “They are 0-to-3 (service time) players that we’ve stripped out a lot of the risk because they are pretty much there.…I think we can match up in deals, just about any deal.  If clubs are willing to engage, we can engage.”  As Fletcher notes, the odds of the team trading top prospect Jo Adell seems very unlikely, though players like Griffin Canning, Patrick Sandoval, Jose Suarez, Jaime Barria, Dillon Peters and Felix Pena, David Fletcher, Luis Rengifo, Taylor Ward, Matt Thaiss, or Jared Walsh could all be potential trade chips.
  • Of course, several of those same names could play important roles for Los Angeles in 2020.  For instance, since Albert Pujols will see more DH time on days that Shohei Ohtani is pitching, Eppler said Walsh or Thaiss could help fill the void at first base.  The rookie duo “had some pretty good moments and showed that they were taking that first step and competing…I’d like to see how those guys respond to more at-bats and see how they go from there,” Eppler said.  Thaiss, the 16th overall pick of the 2016 draft, has the higher pedigree of the two and also has spent a lot of time at third base, while Walsh has crushed minor league pitching over his five pro seasons.  Both are left-handed hitters, making either solid fits to partner with the right-handed hitting Pujols.  Of course, it could certainly be argued that the Angels should seek out a more established first baseman given how Thaiss and Walsh both lack experience, and Pujols is no longer a consistent offensive threat.

Quick Hits: Girardi, Signs, Angels

By | at

For those in the mood for a game of “connect the dots”, today’s news regarding the USA Baseball national team should put your pencils to the ready. Joe Girardi, previously the USA team’s manager, has officially stepped down in advance of the “Premier 12” Olympic qualifier, according to this tweet from Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe (Twitter link). Scott Brosius, longtime Yankee and a two-time Olympic gold medalist in his own right, will manage the American side moving forward.

While those obsessed with the sport of Olympic baseball will find this to be a cataclysmic development, the rest of us will feel inclined to view this announcement in light of its implications on the MLB managerial market. While Girardi himself has not issued a statement regarding his decision to step down from USA duties, it might be inferred that he could be prepping to accept a job as skipper of a big league club. Girardi, who has not managed in the bigs since his contract with the Yankees expired in 2017, has recently interviewed for the Cubs, Mets, and Phillies openings. Keep track of all managerial maneuverings with MLBTR’s Managerial Search Tracker.

More news from around the game on this eerily baseball-free Wednesday…

  • From the “unwritten rules” department: according to SNY’s Andy Martino, the Yankees dugout was incensed during the course of Game 1, when several Astros players were heard whistling in advance of certain pitches on Saturday night. “I would consider whistling a tired act that goes beyond what is acceptable,” an unnamed major league executive told Martino. “If the Astros or anyone else was doing it, it would be considered a break in the unwritten rules. I have not been part of any team that used a whistle from the dugout for pitch type or location.” Of course, sign stealing is a time-honored part of baseball gamesmanship that has taken many different forms over the past few centuries; recently, MLB has even considered the implementation of on-field earpieces for pitchers and catchers, according to some 2018 reportage on the part of Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston.
  • In our recent poll “Executives Under Pressure”, MLBTR readers voted on which club GM they thought would most be feeling the pressure in 2020 to put out a winning club–or else. Angels GM Billy Eppler placed third in the polling (behind Neal Huntington of the Pirates and Matt Klentak of the Phillies), with 11.81% of readers positing that LA’s fifth-year GM will likely be maneuvering to keep his job this offseason. In the view of The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, today’s hiring of Joe Maddon to the club’s manager seat might be further evidence toward Eppler’s occupational insecurity (link). “From every indication, owner Arte Moreno drove the hiring of Maddon, and by doing so, undercut his GM,” writes Rosenthal. Eppler will be tasked with several challenges heading into this winter, including the reinforcement of a pitching staff recently decimated by injuries and the loss of hurler Tyler Skaggs.

Angels Exercise 2020 Option Over GM Billy Eppler

By and | at

The Angels have exercised a club option over general manager Billy Eppler for the 2020 season, according to Fabian Ardaya and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). His original contract came with a four-year term, with the club option for another.

That decision leaves the front office under Eppler’s guidance for at least one more campaign. Unless further contract talks take place, however, he won’t enjoy a longer-term commitment.

Eppler, who was previously one of Yankees general manager Brian Cashman’s top lieutenants in New York, took over the Angels’ front office in October 2015. The franchise hasn’t achieved ideal on-field results since Eppler grabbed the reins, though, as it has finished below .500 in each of his years at the helm. At 64-71 in 2019, the Halos are on their way to another disappointing campaign in the standings, and they’re sure to extend their playoff drought to a half-decade.

Of course, it would be unfair to place the Angels’ current struggles solely at Eppler’s feet. The sudden passing of quality starter Tyler Skaggs back on July 1 has been among the reasons the Angels’ season has come off the rails. Most teams likely would’ve had difficulty carrying on in the wake of such a tragedy.

Skaggs looked like a long-term building block for the Angels’ rotation – a group that’s lacking in that department. Consequently, upgrading the team’s starting staff will perhaps be the chief objective for Eppler during the upcoming offseason. Eppler swung and missed in that category last offseason with the short-term signings of Matt Harvey (one year, $11MM) and Trevor Cahill (one year, $9MM). Harvey’s no longer on the club, which released him last month, while Cahill lost his starting job earlier in the season and hasn’t exactly been a lights-out reliever. Eppler acknowledged a few weeks ago that there are some strong starters set for free agency, so he may well go that route to ameliorate his roster.

Regardless of whether Eppler reels in any prominent free agents in the coming months, the return of right-hander Shohei Ohtani in 2020 should go a long way toward bettering the Halos’ rotation. Eppler’s signature free-agent signing to date, Ohtani hasn’t been able to pitch this year after undergoing Tommy John surgery last October. Ohtani, Andrew Heaney and Griffin Canning (a second-round pick of the Eppler regime in 2017) are among a few promising starting options for the Angels going forward.

The 25-year-old Ohtani’s also indispensable to the team’s offense, which makes the hurler/DH arguably the most unique player in baseball. He’s among a few excellent offensive complements to the top player in the sport, center fielder Mike Trout, whom Eppler inherited. However, it’s obviously a feather in Eppler’s cap that he was able to extend the future Hall of Famer to a record 10-year, $360MM contract prior to the season. The Angels haven’t capitalized on Trout’s presence yet, but considering he’s now in line to finish his career with the organization, there’s plenty of time for that to occur.

Trout could be joined in the Angels’ outfield next season by young outfielder Jo Adell, who’s among the majors’ elite prospects. Adell, the 10th overall pick of the Angels in 2017, is the face of a farm system that has made notable improvements during Eppler’s tenure. Eppler inherited a group of farmhands that ranked near the bottom of the league, but FanGraphs recently placed it 11th in the game.

There have clearly been hits and misses during Eppler’s run in Anaheim, but at least for now, deep-pocketed owner Arte Moreno believes the good outweighs the bad. It remains to be seen, though, whether the Angels will exercise the same patience with Eppler a year from now if there isn’t legitimate progress in the win-loss department.

AL West Notes: Lorena Martin, Harvey, Kikuchi, Mariners, Rangers

By | at

Lorena Martin filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the Seattle Mariners earlier this week, per Drew Perine of the News Tribune. Martin has been vocal in alleging a pattern of racial and gender discrimination from high ranking officials within the Mariners organization, who have unequivocally, and unsurprisingly, denied Martin’s accusations. Major League Baseball is said to be investigating the matter, but now the King County Superior Court will have the opportunity to make their own determination. Until these respective investigations are complete, let’s take a look at the baseball news from around the AL West…

  • The Angels’ recent signing of Matt Harvey makes sense both in terms of team need and length of the deal, even if it took $11MM guaranteed to ink a pitcher whose 4.94 ERA from a year ago was seen as a pleasant surprise. Combined with the subsequent one-year, $9MM deal given to Trevor Cahill, the Angels have done well to add rotation arms without committing dollars beyond 2019. In terms of upside, GM Billy Eppler is hopeful Harvey can return to 2015 form when the dark knight posted a 2.71 ERA (3.05 FIP) in 189 1/3 innings for the Mets, though there is no single factor (conditioning or otherwise) prompting Eppler’s optimism, per Maria Torres of the LA Times (via Twitter). Whether he rediscovers his 2015 self or refines the 2018 version, Harvey has definite upside that should help Eppler in his stated goal to increase the team’s win expectancy. Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan speculated in a recent Fangraphs podcast about whether the decreased spin rate on Harvey’s curveball could be tied to the hand numbness he suffered as a symptom of thoracic outlet syndrome, which ended his 2016 season. Lindbergh and Sullivan are purely speculating, but it’s an interesting theory.
  • Jerry Dipoto dropped some not-so-subtle hints that the Mariners have interest in Japanese lefty Yusei Kikuchi while on MLB Network Radio. That’s hardly a surprise, given Seattle’s long-term relationship with Japanese players. Still, Dipoto also interestingly noted “two years” as the timetable for the Mariners competing again in the West. That they are rebuilding certainly hasn’t escaped anyone, but knowing the timeframe in which Dipoto’s current strategy plans to produce fruit is worthwhile knowledge in interpreting Seattle’s transactions this offseason and beyond. How aggressively Dipoto sticks to this unofficial two-year timeline could speak to the level of symbiosis that exists between Dipoto and ownership. 
  • Texas GM Jon Daniels, meanwhile, does not want to put a timeframe on the Rangers’ rebuild. With Adrian Beltre retired and Jurickson Profar now in Oakland, the Rangers have turned the page on the most recent era of Rangers’ baseball, but the trade itself does not necessarily signal a longer rebuild, especially given the advanced development level of the prospects returned. While there was no urgency to deal Profar, a stalemate in extension talks with his agent Scott Boras appears to have been a (not at all surprising) contributing factor in Daniels’ willingness to move their former top prospect, writes Jeff Wilson of the Star-Telegram. With third base now vacated (again), Daniels made a point to snuff out any musings about Joey Gallo returning to the hot corner, as they will likely look outside the organization or give Patrick Wisdom, 27, an extended look. Eli White, one of the prospects acquired in the deal, has an outside shot of pushing his way to the majors next season, though he profiles more as an up-the-middle player.

Quick Hits: Angels, Giants, Braves

By | at

GM Billy Eppler reiterated the Angels’ plan to build upon the growth of their farm system in 2018, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. The plan is clear: build a Top-5 system, and then use their financial muscle to supplement (Fangraphs pegs their current farm as the 12th most valuable system in the league). The Angels aren’t out on all trade candidates, however, as Eppler makes an important distinction in stating that they haven’t traded anyone “impactful” from their farm. Deals that don’t require surrendering top prospects remain theoretically in play, though such a strategy likely won’t yield any of the sexier names being bandied about these winter meetings, such as Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer or J.T. Realmuto. Fletcher suggests Sonny Gray, Francisco Cervelli and Julio Teheran as the types of trade targets that might be within their reach. These types of targets are likely better fits for their financial outlook as well.

  • Behind the leadership of President of Baseball Ops Farhan Zaidi, the San Francisco Giants will open their playbook to more modern pitching strategies next season, per Kerry Crowley of the Mercury News. A staff comprised of injury-prone veterans like Jeff Samardzija and up-and-comers potentially on innings limits (Dereck Rodriguez, Andrew Suarez) may lead manager Bruce Bochy to employ the Opener strategy or, as Zaidi puts it, “different forms of pitching staff constructions” in 2019. Bochy is a noted traditionalist in the dugout, but in lieu of finding five starters capable of pitching 200 innings, he and Zaidi will be forced to adapt by building a pitching strategy tailored to their current personnel. The Giants may still add to their stable of arms, but outfield is far-and-away the winter priority at this time, and they feel pretty good about where how the bullpen is currently constructed. That said, there has been considerably trade interest in Will Smith and Tony Watson, so the near-term outlook could change if a can’t-miss deal presents itself. Thus far, Zaidi is adhering to a patient approach in his first winter at the helm, which makes sense given the financial and talent makeup of the San Francisco roster.
  • The Braves lost out to division rival Philadelphia in the bidding for Andrew McCutchen, though Atlanta was never a serious contender once the price rose to include a third season, per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. GM Alex Anthopoulos is perfectly content to wait until the new year before making any more additions, should that be what the market dictates. In the case of McCutchen, for instance, the Braves viewed the former Pirates outfielder as comparable to Carlos Gonzalez or Nick Markakis – corner bats that add value when secured on a shorter-term deal. They’ve vetted most outfielders available, and a bigger name like Michael Brantley is still in play for Atlanta, but the Braves aren’t eager to overpay for expediency at this stage of the winter. This mirrors the situation they faced earlier in the winter when they looked into possibly acquiring J.T. Realmuto. After feeling like the Marlins wouldn’t deal within the division, they moved on to free agent target Brian McCann. While the intra-division embargo seems to have passed, the Braves will not be reengaging the Marlins, as they secured a catching tandem they like, in McCann and Tyler Flowers, at a price they like.

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top