The New York Mets announced Thursday that GM Billy Eppler resigned from his position. The news comes just days after the organization fired manager Buck Showalter after missing the playoffs. Showalter, last year’s NL Manager of the Year, was with the Mets just two seasons. The Mets also hired former Milwaukee Brewers executive David Stearns as the team’s next president of baseball operations earlier this fall, who will now be tasked with hiring both a new manager and general manager.

Mets owner Steve Cohen said: “Billy Eppler led this team through a 101-win season and postseason berth last year and he iwll be missed. We accepted Billy’s resignation today as he decided it is in everyone’s best interest to fully hand over the leadership of baseball operations to David Stearns. on behalf of the Mets organization, we wish him all the best.” Eppler said in a statement: “I wanted David to have a clean slate and that meant me stepping down. I hope for nothing but the best for the entire Mets organization.”

Eppler spent time as the Angels general manager from 2015-20, and was hired as the team’s general manager in 2021.Eppler oversaw a team that went 176–148; the team went 101-61 last season and made their first playoff appearance in the past seven seasons. However this past season, the Mets finished with a 74-87 record, which put them 30 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL East and 10 games away from the NL wild-card picture.

Among Eppler’s biggest moves as general manager included signing both Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, then trading both star pitchers at the 2023 trade deadline, and deciding to not re-sign Jacob deGrom. The Mets, who haven’t won a World Series since 1986, started the season with the largest payroll in the league at $331 million.

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