Billy Eppler

by jscape2000 on Feb 28, 2009 2:59 PM EST in New York Yankees News

Most notable, perhaps, is the volume of low-risk, high-reward players Yankees scouts have found under Eppler. Relievers like Bruney, Dan Giese, Edwar Ramírez and José Veras were signed as free agents, and all pitched well last season.

Stories like the signing of Alfredo Aceves especially invigorate Eppler. On a tip from Lee Sigman, the Yankees’ scout in Mexico, Eppler sent one of his scouts, Jay Darnell, to shoot video of Aceves’s pitching.

A rare look inside the Yanks' front-office, focused on a key cog whom I had never even heard of.

I like the moves the front office has made in the last few years, Kei Igawa aside. The Yanks will never (I hope) receive a high draft ticket, and they'll never really settle for mediocrity at a key position, so for the farm system to be successful it has to focus on finding high potential players in non-traditional locations like Japan and the Indy Leagues.

Must read material.

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Eppler

is mentioned a few times in Torre’s book. I hadn’t heard of him until then.

by NumberSeven on Feb 28, 2009 5:00 PM EST reply actions

News to me ...

Eppler is a sabermetrics/stats guy, and I certainly think there is some validity holding to that philosophy even though I’m more old school. Finishing at the top, or certainly near the top forces the Yankees to get creative—to turn over every rock, to look under every tree to root out those “under the radar” guys. I think Eppler/Cashman and crew get that, and are now taking full advantage.

I like what we are doing in the minors. We appear extraordinarily deep in pitching, and hopefully soon we’ll see some position players break on the scene as well.

"Baseball is the background music of my life." -George Will

by Ronster22 on Mar 2, 2009 10:07 AM EST reply actions