Billy Eppler did not draft Mike Trout.
He is, however, the general manager who tried and failed to get Trout to the playoffs in each of his five years as Angels general manager. Eppler’s task was simply surrounding the best player in the world with enough talent to qualify for the postseason. Instead, the Angels went 409-461 (.470 winning percentage) and never had a single winning season under Eppler’s watch.
During that span the Angels had the 19th-best record among MLB’s 30 teams, one slot below the Mets, the latest team that Eppler will try to rescue. His spell with the Mets is off to a good start, at least in free agency, as he already poached a Hall of Fame pitcher in Max Scherzer, last year’s stolen base king in Starling Marte and two players in Eduardo Escobar and Mark Canha that have been worth a combined 20 Wins Above Replacement since 2018.
Eppler has a strong track record of getting players to sign, sure, but the results on the field have not always made him look smart. While he was at least partially responsible for the moves that have kept two superstars in Anaheim (Trout’s 12-year extension and the initial agreement that brought Shohei Ohtani to America), he’s also partially responsible for some unquestioned duds, and the jury is still out on Anthony Rendon’s time in Orange County.
Every general manager will have some whiffs. But with the built-in security of having Trout for the first five years of his reign and Ohtani for the final three, even hitting a few singles in those at-bats would have made Eppler’s tenure much more fruitful.
While he certainly didn’t screw up every time he struck a deal, a look back through the Eppler era shows much more misses than hits.
MISS: EVERY MOVE BEFORE AND DURING THE 2021 SEASON
The Angels had stumbled their way to a 26-34 record during the unparalleled confusion of 2020. But with Trout, Ohtani and Rendon all back for a full season, the pieces were in place for at least a solid run at the Wild Card. In preparation, Eppler made a bunch of C-list moves. None of them worked out.
The biggest deal he handed out prior to the 2021 season was a one-year, $8 million dollar pact for Jose Quintana. The lefty was one of the more dependable starting pitchers of the early and mid-2010s but had shown noticeable signs of decline by the time the Angels got their hands on him. In turn, he produced a 6.75 ERA in 24 games and was relegated to bullpen duty before getting waived in August. Eppler also tried to improve the Angels’ bullpen before the season and wrongly identified the underwhelming trio of Steve Cishek, Alex Claudio and Tony Watson as the men to do so.
Then there’s Adam Eaton, who was given one final shot by Eppler after being cut by the White Sox in August. Eaton hit .200 before promptly being released by the Angels.
MISS: THE MATT HARVEY AND CODY ALLEN EXPERIMENTS
Pop quiz: is it a good idea to give a past-their-prime pitcher an $11 million deal after Tommy John surgery, thoracic outlet syndrome and a designation for assignment by the Mets?
Harvey’s time in Anaheim provided a resounding “no.” The Dark Knight pitched in just 12 games for the Angels in 2019 — allowing six or more earned runs in four of them — before eventually getting released midseason.
At the time, the Angels had been searching for an answer at closer. Eppler went out and got Cody Allen for one year and a reasonable $8.5 million. Allen was not far removed from breaking Cleveland’s all-time saves record and had just turned 30.
His blip with the Angels ended up being the last time Allen, who retired in February, ever pitched in the big leagues. He finished his Angel career with a 6.26 ERA and just four saves, getting demoted from the closer role before April was over.
MISS: BLOATED DEALS FOR JUSTIN UPTON AND ZACK COZART
The Angels are still reeling from the contract Eppler gave Justin Upton. The 34-year-old is on the books for $28 million next year, the highest salary of his back-loaded five-year, $106 million marriage. From 2019-2021, the former No. 1 overall pick has clubbed .211/.299/.414 and been the definition of replacement level, clocking in at exactly 0.0 WAR.
Cozart was one of the more reactionary deals in recent memory. The infielder had been a fine player for the Reds during his first six seasons, but never spectacular. Then, his slugging percentage jumped by over 100 points from 2016 to 2017, coinciding with his contract year.
Eppler decided one aberrational season was enough to reward Cozart with a three-year, $38 million deal at age 32, signed during the same offseason that the Angels locked Upton down. Cozart immediately turned back into a pumpkin thanks to a brutal string of shoulder injuries, culminating in a .124 batting average in 2019 that got him traded to the Giants.
Even worse, since the move was such a blatant salary dump for the Angels, they had to include the player they took in the first round of the draft just months earlier to convince San Francisco to take Cozart.
HIT: RAISEL IGLESIAS
Apart from the Trout extension and signing Ohtani out of Japan, the only other undeniable player personnel win for Eppler is closer Raisel Iglesias. Eppler traded two no-names to Cincinnati for Iglesias after the 2020 season and ended up with a steal.
Iglesias was one of just six American League relief pitchers last season to amass 2.0 WAR, and he even received some down ballot Cy Young votes. Unfortunately, Eppler couldn’t convince Iglesias to follow him east, as the reliever re-signed with the Angels this winter.
HIT: DRAFT CLASSES?
Just like Iglesias could regress negatively, some of Eppler’s draft picks could regress in a positive sense. It’s too early to tell how Jo Adell, Brandon Marsh and Griffin Canning will pan out, but each one carries some potential for stardom down the road.
