Ugh. The news from the Mets today is devastating, as the team announced an MRI revealed that Zack Wheeler has a torn UCL. Sandy Alderson said on a conference call Monday morning that the team believes it is a full tear, meaning that while Wheeler will get a second opinion, Tommy John surgery is on the horizon, and that’s curtains on the 2015 season for another Mets pitcher.
The feeling I have today is reminiscent to the empty feeling I had nearly 20 months ago, when the news about Matt Harvey, who ultimately got Tommy John surgery. This hurts. Just when Harvey was finally coming back, and there was optimism around the Mets, the organization and this fanbase is hit with this.
While the news is devastating–and it’s hard to say there’s any sort of silver lining here–if there was ever a team that could withstand an injury of this magnitude to one of their starting pitchers, it’s the New York Mets.
Still, its not clear what direction the Mets will take to fill the void left behind Wheeler.
Right now, the starting rotation is made-up of Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Jon Niese and Bartolo Colon, with one spot open. The question here is if Wheeler ultimately does undergo Tommy John surgery, who will replace him?
“That’s something we will think about over the next 2-3 days. Right now, we are trying to absorb this news,” Alderson explained.
To me, the short-term solution will most likely be Dillon Gee. After not being traded in the offseason, there just wasn’t room for Gee in the rotation, so the Mets attempted to transition him to the bullpen. But now, as the only veteran option, he appears to be first in line for that newly opened spot.
Another intriguing option, and the one that would warrant the most buzz, would be the right-hander Noah Syndergaard. The Mets top pitching 
prospect has looked impressive so far this Spring, pitching to a 3.86 ERA. In his last appearance, Syndergaard pitched 2.2 innings, allowing no runs on a hit, no walks all while striking out five hitters.
Syndergaard was projected to make his major league debut last season, but after injuries and some struggles in Triple-A, he never did find his way to Queens. The perception within the organization was that he simply wasn’t ready for the big leagues and didn’t warrant a promotion. Considering he was much younger than the average player in the Pacific Coast League, some of that stood to reason.
Ultimately, I suspect that Syndergaard may not make the Opening Day roster, however could wind up making his highly anticipated debut around the Super Two deadline.
Steven Matz is also a possibility. He has yet to pitch in Triple-A and could need a half a year’s worth of productive innings before getting here, but he has flown up the Mets rankings recently, turning heads in the process and looking very impressive during Spring Training as well. In his first start of the Spring, Matz faced off against the Miami Marlins, pitching two perfect innings.
Asked about Matz, Marlins outfielder Ichiro Suzuki recently told David Lennon of Newsday how impressed he was with the young left-hander.
“When you see a 95 fastball and then a 78 curveball, that’s definitely the stuff of a big-leaguer,” Suzuki said.
It’s worth mentioning in the case of both Syndergaard and Matz, their innings limit will be in the 160-170 range in 2015.
Rafael Montero is an arm with some big league experience as well. However with Gee, Syndergaard and Matz, I just don’t see how Montero winds up in the big leagues as a starter without a slew of injuries coming first. Montero struggled to throw strikes in his time with the Mets last season, going 1-3 in eight starts with a 4.06 ERA, and Terry Collins was noticeably frustrated with that at times late last year.
The point is, the Mets are equipped to deal with this, and they very well may get a good season out of Gee, Syndergaard or Matz, but there’s no sugarcoating this. Today is a bad day for the Mets, and now, we’ll wait and see how they handle more adversity.
Michael Baron contributed to this post.
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