Mets Make Four Additional Front Office Hires With Ties To GM Billy Eppler
In this story:
It was not but a day ago when the information leaked that Elizabeth Benn was being hired as the Mets' director of major league operations, becoming the highest-ranked female executive in franchise history.
The addition of Benn was Billy Eppler's first front office hire since taking over as general manager of the Mets back in November - but he wasn't finished there.
Earlier today, a source confirmed to Inside the Mets that the team has brought in Jonathan Strangio as vice president of baseball operations, Nate Horowitz as senior director of player personnel, Nick Spar as director of baseball operations and Steve Martone as a special assistant.
Tim Britton of The Athletic was the first to report on the Mets' latest front office hires.
It's not a coincidence that all four of the newest members of the Mets' baseball ops department worked with Eppler during his time as GM of the Los Angeles Angels.
This signals Eppler's desire to bring in his own people, which is a standard practice by any new GM, regardless of what industry. However, Eppler unselfishly put this process on hold for a few months due to the expiring collective bargaining agreement serving as a deadline for teams to sign free agents by Dec. 1 before transactions were halted indefinitely due to the lockout. Eppler and the Mets also needed to embark on a managerial search, which resulted in the hiring of veteran skipper Buck Showalter, who then had to collaborate with the GM in order to fill out his coaching staff.
Shortly after his arrival in Anaheim, Eppler promoted Strangio to assistant GM in November of 2015. Strangio began his career as a baseball ops intern for the Mets from June to 2010 to December 2011. Now, a little over a decade later, he will return to the organization as VP of baseball ops.
Next, we have Horowitz, who Eppler named as the Angels' pro scouting director back in 2016. Horowitz served in this role until after the 2021 season, and will become the Mets' senior director of player personnel under Eppler in New York.
As for Spar, the Mets' new director of baseball ops, he was a baseball ops assistant for the Angels from January 2019 until the conclusion of last season. Spar followed Eppler to William Morris Endeavor agency in October, taking on WME's director of baseball ops position for a brief period of time. He will now rejoin Eppler in the Mets' organization. Interestingly enough, Spar interned at the White House back in 2010 during Barack Obama's first of two terms as president of the united states.
Last but not least, Martone spent nine years in the Yankees' organization from 2006 to 2015, where Eppler served as one of his mentors. During this time, Eppler was the Yankees' scouting director until getting promoted to assistant GM in 2012. Martone, on the other hand, was a baseball ops assistant prior to becoming the Yankees' manager of pro scouting. When Eppler was hired by the Angels, Martone came with him as his other assistant GM alongside Strangio. All three executives were let go by Anaheim following the 2020 season. Now, they will have a chance to right the ship in New York with the backing of billionaire owner Steve Cohen.
