Terry pushes for Zack
Collins wants Wheeler, but Alderson may balk
DENVER — With the back end of the Mets rotation struggling through the first two weeks of the season, calls for top pitching prospect Zack Wheeler are getting louder. Even Terry Collins said he might have to think about asking for some of the young, quality reinforcements the franchise has stockpiled in the minors if the struggles continue.
On his weekly radio spot on WFAN, Collins was asked if the pitching beyond Jon Niese and Matt Harvey continued to struggle would there be a chance the club could call up Wheeler soon. “If this continues, we’ve gotta start visiting that pretty soon,” Collins told WFAN host Mike Francesa.
While Sandy Alderson did not rule out Wheeler’s promotion, the GM said the decision would not be made because of the struggles of Dillon Gee, Jeremy Hefner and Aaron Laffey. “It was always a case that it
would be Zack’s sufficiency and the major-league team’s need,” Alderson said. “If those two things merge, the need and the performance converge, then it is a possibility.
“That could happen sooner or it could happen later,” Alderson said.
At the moment, performance has not met the need, no matter how bad the back end of the Mets rotation has been. While Jon Niese and Matt Harvey have combined to give up nine earned runs through 39.2 innings and the Mets are 6-0 in their starts, Gee, Hefner and Laffey have struggled. The three have given up 24 earned runs in 31.1 innings over seven starts.
The Mets do not feel that Wheeler is the answer to that problem right now.
In his first two starts at Triple-A, Wheeler struggled with command. It was later revealed that he was throwing with a blister under the nail of his right middle finger, a problem he also dealt with in 2012 in Binghamton. The blister makes it impossible for him to throw his slider.
In his la st star t on Sunday night, Wheeler looked better. He went 5.1 innings, giving up three earned runs on six hits. Most notably, he did not walk a batter and struck out eight.
“We are looking for excellency from him and consistency,” Al
derson said. “The last start was a good one. We want to see how he does in his next one and over the next several starts.”
In three starts with Triple-A Las Vegas, Wheeler is 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA in 14 innings. He has allowed 17 hits and six walks while striking out 17.
Despite Wheeler’s successful start on Sunday, people within the organization privately said that they do not feel the pitcher is ready.
While business considerations have also been mentioned with Wheeler’s possible promotion, the first hurdle will be cleared this weekend. Wheeler will have spent the first 20 days of the season in the minor leagues, meaning he would not be able to use this season as a year of service time toward free agency and would be under the Mets’ control until 2019. The Mets would also like to keep Wheeler from becoming a Super-2, which would make him eligible for salary arbitration a year early. The deadline for the Super-2 is expected to be in mid-June.
Alderson said all along that the determining factor in Wheeler’s path to the majors would be his development followed by the need of the team and then business decisions.
“I don’t think anything has changed in the philosophy,” Alderson said. “Zack Wheeler will determine when he
comes to New York.”