Rob Manfred gave further insight on the investigation against Billy Eppler and the Mets before the start of Game 1 of the World Series.
Manfred stated that the investigation into Eppler’s alleged misuse of the injured list questioned the integrity of the game and that Major League Baseball always prioritizes cleaning up the game.
“Whenever we have a complaint about an issue that arguably affects the integrity of the competition, it kind of goes high on our priority list,” Manfred said. “It doesn’t seem quite the same as some of the other issues we’ve had, I’m not revisiting that, but it is significant and we are going to follow up on it.”
Eppler resigned on October 5 from his position as general manager. He was originally going to stay in the Mets’ front office and work under David Stearns for the 2024 season. Manfred told reporters before Game 1 that the investigation would conclude before the end of 2023.
Eppler’s alleged use of the phantom IL, while against MLB rules, has been widely used across MLB for a while. AJ Pierzynski recently admitted on the Foul Territory Podcast the Braves put him on the IL for a fake injury while playing in 2016.
RULE CHANGES
Manfred discussed potential rule changes moving forward with the media before Game 1 as well. One of the changes MLB has discussed was amending the playoff format to benefit the top-seeded teams. Manfred, however, said he liked the current format.
“My own view on this is that our teams play really hard all year long to get into the playoffs,” Manfred said, “But one of the greatest things about the playoffs in baseball is, anybody can win. I don’t think what happened this year is all that out of line with history.”
The other change Manfred discussed was lowering the maximum amount of pitchers on a roster from 13 to 12. Manfred stated that the original lowering of roster space for pitchers hasn’t had the “desired effect” and the league wants to encourage teams to push their starting pitchers further into games.
