Philly Front Office

I am a coward. Under no circumstances do I want to give any oxygen to some kind of Miracle Mets comeback. I am not going to talk about the collapse in 2007 or start bragging on a 7 game lead. I’m just going to keep things simple and talk about the best player to play for both franchises…Zack Wheeler. Sorry Tug, Nails, and Whitey, not only is Zack awesome and in our hearts right now, but the wound still stings when they touch it. That’s about as inflammatory as I am prepared to go.

Monday, August 25 at 7:10p – Cristopher Sanchez vs Kodai Senga (R)
Tuesday, August 26 at 7:10p – Jesus Luzardo vs Sean Manaea (L)
Wednesday, August 27 at 7:10p – Taijuan Walker vs Nolan McLean (R)

3 game series at Citi Field – Flushing, NY

Wheeler was drafted by the San Francisco Giants with the 6th pick in the 2009 MLB Draft. Despite success as a young pitcher, the Giants traded him to the Mets at the 2011 trade deadline straight up for Carlos Beltran. Beltran spent 2 months in the Bay area, the Giants missed the playoffs, and he left for St. Louis. This is why teams covet prospects, imagine trading future Zack Wheeler for 2 forgettable months! Well at least something good came from those even yeared Giants teams.

With the Mets, Wheeler skyrocketed up prospect lists landing at #28 in 2012 and #8 in 2013, joining fellow future New Yorkers Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard (I’m not tuned in with the Mets prospect history to know why Jacob deGrom wasn’t even top 10 in their system, wtf?). Mets fans were going nuts about their potential going forward and Wheeler only added to the hype by making his debut in June 2013. A solid 17 start rookie season made way to a full 32 start slate in 2014. Unfortunately, that’s when the injuries started.

Wheeler started feeling discomfort in Spring Training 2015 and had Tommy John surgery. A series of setbacks meant that he missed all of 2016 as well. 2017 only saw 17 largely ineffective starts. Finally, in 2018, Wheeler was given a clean bill of health and turned in his best season as a pro, and then an almost identical year in 2019. After 3 mostly lost seasons, Wheeler was now in position to be the pitcher most thought he could be. Except the Mets weren’t convinced. Instead of offering him a multi-year contract, none came, and the Phillies pounced.

At the Winter Meetings in 2019 the Phillies signed Wheeler to a 5/$115m contract. The player the Mets had built and rebuilt through all those injuries would now be pitching against them with their biggest rival. It would be the greatest free agent deal in team history. Why didn’t the Mets make him a real offer? I guess the fear trumped the talent.

Truth be told, we didn’t really know what we had at first. That first year was a mess due to COVID and a disastrous bullpen that left the Phillies on the outside looking in for the playoffs. In 2021 though, Wheeler broke out huge. He led the NL in WAR, innings, and strikeouts while pitching to a 2.78 ERA. His runner up finish for the Cy Young was a joke, losing to Corbin Burnes by ten votes. While Burnes had the superior ERA, he did it by never pitching deep into games and missing several starts. Wheeler’s 46 extra innings was the equivalent of nearly 2 innings per start or 6 additional Wheeler games (8 Burnes games).

Over the next 3 seasons, Wheeler proved to be the most reliable ace pitcher in baseball. Outside of 1 injury in 2022, he has been at or near the lead in basically every pitching metric that matters. He had another runner up Cy Young finish last year, but probably deservingly lost to Chris Sale. That doesn’t even cover the playoffs though where he has done nothing but get better each time out. In 70 playoff innings over 11 starts he has a 2.18 ERA. His last time out there he gave up 1 hit in 7 shutout innings.

This season started out with more of the same from Wheeler. He was in the thick of the Cy Young race and looking every bit like the ace he’s been since the moment he got to Philly. Sadly, he won’t be pitching in the playoffs this year thanks to a blood clot in his shoulder. Still, Wheeler promises he isn’t done. With 2 years left on his contract, he plans to have surgery and make it back for next season. Never give up on Zack Wheeler.

Prospect lists courtesy of MLB.com