Just Mets

Over the course of the last year, the perception had been Zack Wheeler was not available in trade scenarios.

Based on what the Mets had invested in Wheeler and as much as he’d progressed through the end of 2014, that stood to considerable reason.

However, in his column for the New York Post, Joel Sherman says the Mets were really not making Wheeler available out of fear his injured elbow would be exposed if teams requested medical information on their right-hander, thus nixing the possibility of a deal going through.

After Wheeler was diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament, it was later revealed he suffered a torn tendon in his elbow last summer, before he tore the ligament.

“There was enough troubling details already about the condition of Wheeler’s elbow — the need for MRI exams, a torn tendon, the eventual use of a platelet enrichment shot — that the Mets believed any club that looked at the portfolio would rescind the trade,” Sherman explained in his column.

Sherman says the Giants expressed interest in reacquiring Wheeler over the winter, and the Cubs and Mets spoke only broadly about a trade scenario.

The Mets were probably right in their assumption interested teams would balk at Wheeler’s medicals, especially since it’s now known he was pitching in pain, often severe at times. All of this made it impossible to move Wheeler, they knew it, so they decided to keep their cards close to the vest which is totally understandable. They also prevented the information from getting out uncontrollably during the off-season, which is never a good thing from a public relations perspective.

Sandy said this past week he felt surgery was inevitable for Wheeler, so that certainly provides clarity as to why no pitching was moved to fill other holes. If they had traded Noah Syndergaard and Dillon Gee, they would’ve lost Wheeler anyway, meaning they’d be down two starters right now with much less depth to compensate for the loss.

Of course, they still have gaping holes in the bullpen and an open-ended situation at shortstop, but a compelling argument can be made they’d be in much deeper trouble than they are today if they had moved pitchers to fill their holes instead.