A.J. Pierzynski, a former White Sox catcher, responded to the MLB suspending Billy Eppler, the general manager of the Mets, on Friday’s Foul Territory.
Eppler has been under investigation for inappropriate usage of the injured list in 2022 and 2023, and he was placed on the MLB’s ineligible list through the 2024 World Series.
“Why is he the one that got in trouble? You are telling me no one else in the organization knew these guys weren’t hurt?” Pierzynski, a two-time All-Star and World Series Champion, said.
“,,,…Everybody knew. Everybody knew those guys weren’t hurt. There is 29 other teams that have all done this. There’s guys that are like: ‘Oh, I have a tight hammy.’ And they just needed a break. They needed just a fatigue break. Or a mental break. There was all kinds of stuff you could do and then they made the DL — excuse me — the IL, only 10 days, right? So they made it even easier for teams to do it because they were missing even less time…”
According to MLB’s findings, Eppler engaged in “improper use of Injured List placements, including the deliberate fabrication of injuries; and the associated submission of documentation for the purposes of securing multiple improper Injured List placements during the 2022 and 2023 seasons.”
“This is just crazy. Unless it was manipulating contracts some way for incentive-based bonuses, I just don’t know why this is such a big deal,” Pierzynski said. “Every other team does it.”
After an anonymous letter to the MLB claimed that Eppler was misusing the injured list, he quit in October. The Mets issued the following statement after MLB revealed its conclusions on Friday:
“The Mets have been informed of the conclusion of Major League Baseball’s investigation. With Billy Eppler’s resignation on October 5, 2023, and with David Stearns leading the Baseball Operations team, the Mets consider the matter closed and will have no further comment.”