Mets not expected to hire GM this winter: ‘We’ll tackle that at a different point’

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — With a heavy workload ahead this winter, the Mets won’t be replacing Billy Eppler anytime soon.

David Stearns will preside over his first offseason as Mets president of baseball operations without a general manager, saying Tuesday at the MLB general manager meetings in Scottsdale that the Mets, “have enough going on.”

“I think we’ve got a front office grouping that is working well together,” Stearns said Tuesday at the Omni Scottsdale Resort and Spa. “We’re learning each other. Frankly, that’s a process that requires immense time, so we’ll tackle that at a different point.”

Eppler resigned only a few days after Stearns was introduced as the club’s top baseball operations executive. Stearns became the club’s first-ever president of baseball operations Oct. 2, a Monday. He was informed the next day that Eppler was facing an investigation. By Thursday, Eppler was gone.

Even though Eppler had essentially been demoted after the hiring of Stearns, the two were still expected to work together. Owner Steve Cohen considered Eppler a trusted member of a tight inner circle and the news came as a shock to all involved.

“It was fairly stunning,” Stearns said. “That entire week was a little bit of a blur and clearly not what any of us had anticipated. Certainly not what I had anticipated. Then, I think as we got towards the end of that week, we realized we had jobs to do and that as an organization. We needed to move forward.

“I’m really proud of the front office group, many of whom didn’t know me very well at that point but were extremely professional, responsible and helped us move forward.”

Stearns had planned on being able to rely on Eppler to help get him acquainted with the operation in his first month on the job. Instead, he’s turned to two long-tenured executives in assistant general manager Ian Levin and former assistant GM John Ricco, who moved over to business operations a few years ago and now holds the title of senior vice president and chief of staff. Ricco, a longtime former lieutenant of Sandy Alderson, was involved in the search for new manager Carlos Mendoza.

The 38-year-old Stearns views the absence of a general manager as an opportunity for other front office staffers to take more responsibility and show that they are ready for bigger roles. Stearns advanced through the ranks of baseball in part because of departures in other departments that opened the door for him to show what he was capable of as a rising young executive.

“That means other people are gonna have to step up. It means that we’re going to ask other people in our front office to take on additional responsibility,” Stearns said. “That’s a great opportunity.”

Technically, the Mets don’t need a general manager to function since they have Stearns as the leading baseball operations executive. The president of baseball operations serves the same purpose as a general manager, but teams often employ people in both roles. Eppler would have been the second in command. Usually, the top executive hires his own No. 2, but in the case of the Mets, Cohen hired Eppler in the fall of 2021 intending to hire a No. 1 ahead of him, but when he was unable to find the right candidate, he let Eppler lead the baseball operations until Stearns, a former president of baseball operations with the Milwaukee Brewers, became available.

The investigation into Eppler and any misuse of the IL by the Mets is still ongoing. The league hopes to complete it before the end of the calendar year, but Stearns did not have any new information in Arizona. He still isn’t sure if there will be any penalties incurred either.

There will be more staffing changes soon with Mendoza coming into the organization and the Mets still need a scouting director and a farm director. Still, the Mets can go about their offseason without any limitations.

“Anytime you have new leadership involved, you’re looking to bring in certain pieces, so yes, we’ve got a lot of HR stuff going on,” Stearns said. “And we are also fully prepared for the offseason. I’m confident that we can move forward there.”