The Mets’ new era has begun with a dash of familiar chaos.

In what amounts to a stunning development, the organization’s leader over the past two seasons will not see a third.

Billy Eppler resigned as Mets general manager on Thursday, three days after he attended the news conference of his new boss, president of baseball operations David Stearns.

Stearns and owner Steve Cohen had signaled that Eppler was expected to remain with the club, Stearns even stating he was “looking forward to working with him.”

Instead, Eppler announced through the Mets that he would step aside.

“I wanted David to have a clean slate and that meant me stepping down,” Eppler said in a statement. “I hope for nothing but the best for the entire Mets organization.”

Stearns was not quoted in the news release.

Cohen thanked the former head of his front office.

“Billy Eppler led this team through a 101-win season and postseason berth last year and he will be missed,” Cohen said in the statement. “We accepted Billy’s resignation today as he decided it is in everyone’s best interest to fully hand over the leadership of Baseball Operations to David Stearns. On behalf of the Mets organization, we wish him all the best.”

Eppler was hired in November 2021 as GM after a prolonged search for a president of baseball operations came up empty.

He led an organization that gambled well on free agents and landed Max Scherzer, assembling an excellent team in 2022 that was knocked out in the wild-card round.

This season was a far bigger struggle and culminated with the trade-deadline sell-off in which Scherzer and Justin Verlander, among others, were sold as the Mets rebuilt their farm system.

Eppler has been hailed particularly for his strength on the international market, having landed Shohei Ohtani when he guided the Angels and Kodai Senga with the Mets.

He will not be around during an offseason in which Ohtani is a free agent and Japanese righty Yoshinobu Yamamoto will hit the open market.

As recently as Monday, the Mets spoke as if they were expecting Eppler to be a part of their future.

“Billy and I have had a really nice relationship going back years as competitors,” Stearns said. “Talking to each other whether it’s about transactions or about industry events. I have a lot of respect for the experience he has in this game, the experience he has in New York and I am looking forward to working with him.”

Cohen stated he wanted the front office to be as deep as possible.

“It’s my goal to build up the management talent in this organization,” Cohen said. “Baseball operations is pretty complicated. There’s a lot of moving parts. And building a strong management team is paramount to me.” 

This is a developing story; check back for updates.