Brewers add controversial former Mets GM as special advisor to front office

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New York Mets Introduce Justin Verlander | Rich Schultz/GettyImages

For all of the headwinds that the Milwaukee Brewers could face in the coming years, an incompetent front office is not going to be one of them. Despite worries that there would be an organizational drop-off after David Stearns left, the Brewers seem to have landed another quality general manager in Matt Arnold.

That is great news because Milwaukee simply has to have a top executive that knows what they are doing. With few resources coming from owner Mark Attanasio anytime soon, every single dollar and move has to count and made with purpose. If the Brewers waste any of their few bullets, getting the playoffs gets a lot harder.

It is curious, then, that Milwaukee just hired Billy Eppler as a special advisor on the scouting and baseball operations front given that he has only worked for big market teams and comes with some baggage.

Brewers hire Billy Eppler as scouting and baseball operations special advisor

It is actually kind of funny. Stearns left Milwaukee to run the Mets because Eppler was walking out the door while under investigation by MLB for manipulating the injured list. The investigation found Eppler did indeed break the rules and was put on the ineligible list by the league for the entire 2024 season. Clearly he is off the list now as the Brewers wouldn't have been able to hire him otherwise.

This is a curious hire to be sure. Arnold obviously still is top dog and will be calling the shots, but bringing in a prominent face like Eppler that didn't exactly light things up in his past two stints as general manager. Milwaukee has a pretty good scouting department already, but perhaps the Brewers think Eppler has a particular knack/talent that they want to take advantage of.

In most cases like these, special advisors either hang around for a few years or rehabilitate their image enough to land a leadership position again. Eppler clearly is looking to get back into baseball and while he won't be taking Arnold's job anytime soon, this could be a chance for him to get back on teams' radars again especially if Milwaukee shows growth with him around.

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