Morning Briefing: Eppler Talks Prospects, Future as GM and Showalter

Good morning, Mets fans!

Mets General manager Billy Eppler spoke with Joel Sherman of the New York Post and talked about a wide range of Mets topics, like the trade deadline, the prospects that came back from trading pitching and position players away and his and Manager Buck Showalter‘s futures with the team.

“It’s probabilistic,” Eppler answered when asked about the process for having a good draft and sending pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander away, among other players, for top -caliber prospects.

“That’s why the players at the minor league level, whether you’re paying for them or international players that are coming into the marketplace or if they are players that are acquired through a trade or through drafting, it’s all probabilistic. If we’re paying down a player to a certain extent and pulling a prospect back, that’s the investment that’s been put in that prospect. It’s still not to the level that a player with maybe a similar forecast at the major league level would cost.”

Trading away players like a Scherzer or Verlander, or players that sign $100-plus million contracts, for future players who can gather contracts of that size based off how good they can become is what Eppler hopes for when making these deadline moves. He acknowledged with Sherman that some of the prospects “might not pan out,” but points out “having more bites out of the apple,” is a better option when trying to acquire a big, future player from trades.

“That’s the probabilistic nature of our game,” Eppler said.

Billy Eppler. Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

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