Now that Zack Wheeler will make one more start before the trade deadline, it seems certain that the Mets will do all they can to trade him by July 31. If Wheeler can prove Friday -- in what could be his final start with the Mets -- that his shoulder is fine, the Mets have to deal him and get something in return. You just hope they get at least a good prospect for him as they try to restock a farm system that lost a bunch of pieces in the offseason.
The Mets acquired Wheeler at the 2011 trade deadline in exchange for Carlos Beltran. It's pretty amazing that it was eight years ago. Time really does fly. The Mets were disappointing and out of the playoff race, like they are now, and had no need for Beltran. The outfielder was in the final year of his seven-year, $119 million contract and was playing great baseball at age 34 when the Mets dealt him. They did the right thing by receiving a top prospect and developing him. At the time, Wheeler was just in Single-A for the Giants, so he was still a few years away from the big leagues.
Wheeler made his big-league debut in a winning effort against the Braves in June 2013. In his 17 starts that year, he showed promise right off the jump. Outside of some command issues and an inability to go deep into games, Wheeler clearly had the stuff to be a great starting pitcher in the majors. He went 7-5 with a 3.42 ERA in his rookie campaign. Wheeler had a solid 2014 season, going 11-11 with a 3.54 ERA in 32 starts in another losing Mets season.
Then Tommy John surgery happened. Nothing was the same for Wheeler.
Wheeler missed the 2015 and 2016 seasons, as he couldn't fully recover from the surgery. He missed the only two winning Mets teams since he arrived. He wasn't a part of the team that made the World Series in 2015 or the team that lost in the wild-card game to the Giants in 2016.
Wheeler returned in 2017 and clearly wasn't the same pitcher as he once was. He only made 17 starts, going 3-7 and posting a brutal 5.21 ERA. He recovered in 2018 and went 12-7 with a 3.31 ERA in 29 starts.
But in what has been a seesaw ride, Wheeler has been wildly inconsistent once again this season. Before the shoulder issue that put him on the injured list, Wheeler was 6-6 with a 4.69 ERA in 19 starts. Every five days, you have no idea which Zack Wheeler you are going to get. You sometimes get the guy who will give up two runs over seven strong innings. Too many times you get the guy who has a rough four-run inning that the Mets can't recover from, or the starts when he implodes and gives up seven runs.
For that reason alone, the Mets should be trading him and shouldn't be thinking about him being in a Mets uniform next year or beyond.
Let's be honest, Zack Wheeler has been underwhelming with the Mets. He came along in 2013, then Jacob deGrom arrived in 2014, and then Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz followed in 2015. Them, along with Matt Harvey, were supposed to create a super rotation that would lead the Mets to the Promised Land. It never truly became that, and injuries mixed with underachievement will now lead to the breakup of what is left of the once highly touted rotation.
It's kind of depressing when you think about what could have been with this Mets rotation. The Mets gave up on Harvey last year. Now, we look at Wheeler being no more. Syndergaard could potentially be gone in the offseason if the Mets are tempted with a trade offer. That would leave just deGrom and Matz. A rotation that was once expected to win the Mets their first World Series since 1986 is dropping one by one, with deGrom being the one constant success.
Wheeler had some good times here, but there was never that one truly fond memory. While it was the right move by then-Mets general manager Sandy Alderson at the time and it was a good trade, this team never exactly won that trade to its full potential. And, hey, Beltran ended up having a nice stretch from 2012-16 with the Cardinals, Yankees and Rangers. You could argue that the Mets didn't exactly win the Beltran-for-Wheeler trade. You could also say the Mets may have been better off bringing Beltran back for a few more years. Wheeler's fewer than five seasons on the mound with the Mets may not even be as good as what Beltran did in his six seasons after being traded away. Beltran would go on to win his first World Series in 2017 with the Astros.
Wheeler never had a chance to pitch in October with the Mets. Who knows when any Met will get that opportunity next?
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