One former pitcher who played for Billy Eppler is now questioning why the ex-Mets general manager was “singled out” for his usage of the injured list.
Eppler on Friday was placed on MLB’s Ineligible List for the entirety of the 2024 season for what the league described as “improper use of Injured List placements, including the deliberate fabrication of injuries; and the associated submission of documentation for the purposes of securing multiple improper Injured List placements during the 2022 and 2023 seasons.”
Tommy Hunter, who pitched for the Mets from 2021-23, which included two years under Eppler’s tenure, said his old boss did not do anything much different than other GMs he played for.
In his first year with team in 2021 under then-interim GM Zack Scott, Hunter was put on the 10-day IL — and later moved to the 60-day — for lower back pain before getting traded to the Rays.
Hunter then landed on the IL with back issues three times in the following season when he re-joined the Mets with Eppler in charge.
Hunter hit the IL again in 2023 with “back spasms” before he was released on June 13.
MLB’s investigation interviewed over three dozen people in connection to Eppler’s “phantom IL” usage, but Hunter was not one of them, The Post’s Joel Sherman and Dan Martin reported.
“It’s crazy Billy got singled out,’’ Hunter told The Post on Friday. “It’s kind of mind-blowing. I had multiple back [issues] and no one from MLB talked to me. I don’t know what their strategy was. It’s no secret what goes on [with the phantom IL], so to go after one person seems unfair.
“I feel bad for Billy. … He didn’t do anything different than any other GM I’ve been around.”
The phantom IL essentially allows teams to keep players — many times bench players without any minor league options — within the organization without losing them to other clubs.
Speaking on his YouTube channel after the news broke, ex-Met reliever Trevor May said the phantom IL usage was an “epidemic” when he was coming through the minor leagues, but he added that he did not notice anything out of the ordinary when he played for Eppler in 2022.
In May of that year, the right-hander went to the IL with triceps inflammation and did not return to the big league club until August.
He hit the IL one more time in September.
“I genuinely do not remember a situation where I could be like, ‘Hey, isn’t that the phantom IL? We’re not supposed to do that in the big leagues. And before you ask, my stress reaction was real and I was gone for three months — it’s hard to fake that,” May said in the 10-minute video.
“I liked Billy Eppler a lot as a person, I thought he was a stand-up guy and he was always very honest with me and we always had very upfront conversations. And I always thought he had my best interest in mind, and I did appreciate that.”
MLB said Eppler, who was investigated over 10 questionable IL stints during his Mets tenure, cooperated with its investigation, and he accepted its decision.
He can return after the 2024 World Series if an organization decides to hire him.
