When the Yankees were on the prowl for starting pitching in the summer of 2019, general manager Brian Cashman’s wish list included two right-handers that the ballclub across town was shopping.
The Mets never received an offer from anyone that enticed them to part with Noah Syndergaard or Zack Wheeler, not that the Yankees ever had a realistic shot at either unless Cashman offered something stupid like Aaron Judge, DJ LeMahieu, Zack Brittan and maybe two or three of his best prospects straight up for one of them.
While the official stance for the Yankees and Mets always is they’re willing to make any deal with any team that makes them better, both clubs always fear losing a New York/New York trade.
In the Mets’ first 60 seasons, there have been just 15 Yankees-Mets trades, and their next blockbuster will be the first. The closest was a 1-for-1 in December 2001 that swapped two former All-Stars that were past their prime, outfielder David Justice to the Mets for third baseman Robin Ventura. A week later, the Mets flipped Justice to the Athletics.
Cashman’s has made just three other deals with the Mets in his 24 seasons as GM, the last coming in April 2018 when two minor league position players who weren’t prospects were moved, L.J. Mazzilli to the Yanks for Kendall Coleman.
There will be more Yankees/Mets GM conversations now that Cashman’s pal and former understudy will be building the Mets’ rosters. Billy Eppler, Cashman’s assistant GM from 2012-15, was hired Thursday to be the Mets’ new general manager.
Eppler was asked during his Zoom news conference if he thinks more than usual Yankees/Mets wheeling and dealing could be in the cards.
The question from NJ Advance Media drew a laugh.
“It’s interesting that you bring that up,” Eppler said, “because over the years we never made any trades even when I was with the Angels. It’s because we maybe have some similar methodologies for valuing players, which wouldn’t be a shocker. So I’m not really expecting to do a lot of transactions.”
Cashman and Eppler plan to continue talking and texting frequently.
“We have regular dialogue,” Eppler said. “We don’t go a week without talking to each other.”
Eppler was hired by Cashman as a Yankees scout in 2006, promoted to director of pro scouting in 2006 and then bumped up to assistant GM in 2012. Spending four seasons as a Cashman right-hand man led to Eppler getting his first GM job in 2015 with the Angels.
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“As far as Brian’s impact on me, it’s been monumental,” Eppler said.
Eppler didn’t built a winner in Anaheim. After five seasons and no playoffs with Mike Trout in his prime, he was fired after the 2020 season.
Cashman is thrilled that Eppler is getting another chance to sit in the GM chair.
“He’s really good in my opinion,” Cashman said Thursday night after hearing the news that Eppler was hired. “I got a chance to work alongside him for quite some time. A lot of people look at the general managers as the figureheads, and I’ve been the figurehead here for quite some time, but I’ve been able at staying power because it’s really baseball ops. That’s the people you surround yourself with, and I was lucky to have been surrounded with Billy Eppler for a long time.
“He impacted us in a really big way and in a real positive way. He’s a great baseball man and I think that the Mets secured a really high-end talent. He’ll serve them well and I’m sure he’ll hire well.”
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Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected].
