Baseball's Worst Kept Secret Just Got Their Scapegoat

back in October after the New York Mets signed David Sterns away from the Brewers to be their new president of baseball operations the current general manager of the team Billy Epler would resign the same day he resigned it became public that Major League Baseball was launching an investigation into Epler and the Mets for allegedly using the so-called Phantom iil what is the Phantom i what does that even mean and is this really something that's exclusive to Epler before I get any further make sure to hit that subscribe button if you haven't already over 78% of my watch time is for people who aren't subscribed so hit that button along with the bell for post notifications thank you so MLB launches their investigation into the Mets including Billy Epler and after a few months it's been completed the end result Billy Epler is now suspended for the 2024 season after being found that he did use the so-called Phantom iil what the Phantom iel is with the I being the injured list is basically putting a player on the injured list who really isn't injured or might have some injury but it's not that bad and it's fabricated to make it seem like a legitimate reason for said player to be put on the inj list so this invest investigation by Major League Baseball found that Epler did this that he directed the Mets to fabricate injuries to create open roster spots nobody else is in trouble or will get suspended because no other Mets employee was named in the report so the Mets as an entire organization come out of the scot-free the investigation found that Epler used the Phantom a in 2022 and 2023 and according to Jesse Rogers of ESPN the scheme involved fabricating injuries for up to a dozen players with sources also saying that an anonymous letter from within the Mets organization tipped off Major League Baseball Epler himself isn't fighting this saying that he cooperated with the League's investigation and accepts their decision in other words he's guilty he did it everyone knows it and he was caught that's true but here's the thing Billy Epler is most definitely not the only person doing this the use of the so-called Phantom iil has been something front offices have been doing for years and it's become obvious the players obviously know it along with the fans and despite it being an illegal thing to do it's actually common it's as good of a secret as the sticky substance Scandal was among pitch across the league a terrible one because everyone knows what was going on it was clear pitchers were using sticky goo and spider attack or whatever it was to pitch better the fans could notice just seeing it on TV and a lot of managers or players wouldn't call out the other side doing it because they knew their own guys were doing it too the Houston Astros became the scapegoat of the signs stealing Scandal considering many teams around baseball were also stealing signs electronically they weren't the only ones but the Astros were just made an example out of what the Astros did was likely by far the most any team took the sign stealing that's at least what it seems and they definitely became the face of sign stealing whether you feel it's fair or not and what's clear as day now is the fact that Billy Epler just became the face of the Phantom iel he's now having an example being made out of him considering MLB had decided not to turn the other cheek after getting tipped off about his illegal actions basically a warning to every other team but it just doesn't feel right to single out Epler and talk about his illegal wrongdoings considering he's just one of many which is exactly what now former 16-year major league pitcher Tommy Hunter had to say Hunter who was on the Mets for the last two years of his career in 2022 and 2023 called it crazy and mindblowing that Epler got singled out saying that there's no secret what's going on so to go after one person seems unfair adding that he feels bad for Epler considering he didn't do anything different than any other GM that he himself has been around if you're a DieHard baseball fan someone who watches and keeps up with your team most of the time throughout the course of a season you probably notice how obvious the Phantom iel seems at times say a player is terrible a pitcher is getting crushed out there I've even heard fans say that the team should or will inevitably put the player on the Phantom I and just say he's injured AKA he's terrible get off the team right now at least momentarily this has been happening for a long time in 2017 the average number of injured list stins was about 23 the Dodgers had 38 of them that season just having a revolving door of quote unquote injuries to get that roster flexibility it's a way to give pitchers rest down the stretch and have them not on the 26 man roster while they hit the short injured list so they get that rest while not taking up a spot this is basically What teams do due to struggling players to figure out how they can get them on the injured list without them having an actual Serious injury keep it simple please what the hell is that I don't know what that is a fish hook in my lip just picked something off this list I can't reach it why not paralyzed does your face hurt Mr Washington then this should help sometimes the players even kind of snitch on what's going on too a few years ago left-handed pitcher Derrik Holland on the Giants kind of called out what the team was doing with him literally saying that he did fake an injury and wasn't happy about it and sticking with the Giants this past season another pitcher Ross strippling went as far as to actually use the term Phantom iil and tell reporters he was on it eventually clarifying that those were his words not the teams and that the Giants just have other options ahead of him at the moment Giants president of baseball operations faran ziy denied that this was the case that they were using the Phantom iel because strippling did have a legitimate injury and told team officials himself that he felt going on the injur list would be the best course of action the two ended up having a meeting where stripping expressed he wasn't happy with what he felt was a lack of communication the two reconciled and all ended up being fine after that but one thing remains to be clear whether this was indeed an example of a player being on the Phantom I or stripping really did need to be on the injured list stuff like this is happening it's not uncommon because in fact it's very common and it's all pretty clear what this Billy Epler situation is about it's about sending a message sending a warning to the rest of the league that isn't allowed Major League Baseball can suspend every general manager present a baseball operations at least they don't want to so instead they've made Epler into their scapegoat the guy who's now been singled out is it fair no it's not but it's all in hopes that this will start putting an end to baseball's worst kept secret let me know what you think thank you for watching and I'll see you soon