If you didn’t remember that former New York Mets GM Billy Eppler was under investigation for alleged improper use of the Injured List while in charge of the team, I wouldn’t blame you. The Mets have had quite a run of execs and coaches who committed alleged malfeasance and were chased from the organization (Zack Scott, Jared Porter, Mickey Callaway, etc.). You can forget who did what and when.
Anyway, Eppler, who left the organization at the end of last season with David Stearns taking over as the new President of Baseball Operations, was under investigation by the league, and that investigation apparently proved fruitful:
So, in sum, the league found that Eppler was improperly using the Injured List – including the concoction of fake injuries and documentation(!) – and he gets a full season ban from baseball. That’s quite an individual punishment, among the more serious we’ve seen.
Meanwhile, the league found that Eppler acted alone, so to speak, and those above him (which I guess means owner Steve Cohen) did not participate. So Eppler, alone, is punished, and the organization does not receive any punishment. I could argue that’s the wrong way of thinking about it, given that Eppler’s actions theoretically created an unfair competitive advantage for the Mets in 2022 and 2023, and that’s where the punishment should follow. But the Mets were pretty disappointing both of those seasons in different ways, so maybe MLB figures they were punished enough.
This must’ve been pretty bad, by the way. It’s an open secret that teams will utilize so-called “phantom injuries” to get players on the Injured List when they might otherwise not be able, or might be subjected to waivers. It’s a crummy thing to do, but lots of teams do it (and some players are understandably willing to go along, since they want to preserve a good standing in the organization, and being on the big league IL is better than being optioned to the minors).
You wonder now if this is MLB kinda throwing down the gauntlet a bit, and saying they will be more aggressively enforcing rules about NOT creating phantom injuries.