After the news broke of Zack Wheeler’s injury some people panicked and said that this was another Generation K, while others looked at it as a way to test the depth. In any case, the Mets should still be able to absorb the loss and attempt to compete 2015. But from this loss, what have we learned from the Mets as a whole? Let’s take a look:
The Mets have some serious depth:
It’s been stated countless times over the offseason: this team has pitching depth, serious depth. The Mets are comfortable after the loss, and still have five capable starters ready to begin the season. Dillon Gee has shown extended flashes of brilliance during his tenure with the team, and is more than capable of performing at Wheeler’s 2014 level. Beyond Gee, there lies a plethora of young pitching to plug the hole. Just to name a few: Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, Tyler Pill, Cory Mazzoni, Matt Bowman, and Greg Peavey. While the Wheeler injury hurts the Mets on more of an emotional level, rather than a physical one, they still have a rotation to be proud of.
There just might be a curse:
While not as extreme as the curse of the Billy Goat, or the Bambino, the curse of Mets injuries continues to linger. Mets fans have always dealt with an excessive amount of players getting injured- especially in recent seasons. When it comes down to splitting hairs, it seems as if every player on the roster has dealt with an injury that has cost serious playing time, and the one guy who hasn’t is almost 42. From Daniel Murphy’s MCL, to Juan Lagares’ hamstring, and to David Wright’s shoulder the offense is littered with health concerns. With the injury to Wheeler, it seems that the pitching staff seems to get the injuries the worse: Jon Niese almost had shoulder surgery, both Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom had Tommy John surgery, and Gee missed a half-season with an arm injury. In the end, there just seems to be a curse that causes this team to always be hurt.
Sometimes we just can’t trust our Front Office:
To start, I am the farthest thing from a conspiracy theorist, but it’s getting harder and harder to trust anything from Sandy Alderson/ Terry Collins mouth. Both of these guys insisted that Wheeler would be fine, but he wasn’t. It just gets harder and harder to trust the words of Alderson: a guy who first claims “he’ll be fine” and then says “it was inevitable.” The trainers have let their starting pitchers fall like dominoes over the past few seasons, and it has really hurt the fans. Overall, Mets fans just want upper management and owners that can just break down the truth, and not spew lies.
The loss of Zack Wheeler is nowhere near the loss of Matt Harvey, and shouldn’t effect whether or not this team contends or not. It remains very clear that Wheeler will eventually return to the Mets, and attempt to be apart of the puzzle. However, as of right now, he is just another hurdle in the quest for a World Series.
There’s a certain level of ‘business deception’ that Sandy Alderson has to follow: he cannot openly defy his bosses’ mandates about salary. This is expected.
But Alderson goes further than that. He will do linguistic gymnastics as he stretches and bends, and yes, this is New York and New Yorkers are skeptical by nature, and demanding of some level of transparency.
Alderson is not suited well for this environment.
As to Collins: I not only can not listen to him speak and butcher the English language, I cannot even read his quotes. How did he land this job? He sounds like a junior high drop out.
If you can find me a GM who doesn’t pull linguistic gymnastics and is 100% transparent, I’ll be genuinely shocked. There is no team executive at any level of baseball in the MLB, MiLB, Indy Leagues, or Collegiate level that is 100% transparent with the media or the public. The fans can demand it all they want, but a GM who is 100% transparent is not going to keep his job for very long.
+1
The long and short of it is that Alderson is a dinosaur in the GM set. While he is using inverted backwards double speak every time he opens his mouth, other GMs understand that cell phones have changed the speed of information transfer. Furthermore we have never had more direct access to news through mlb TV and radio. He is still using coded ciphers and disappearing ink as if people can’t see we don’t need a lefty reliever and a shortstop. There are plenty of open GMs, who have made no bones about the basic swath of their plans. Unlike Alderson who has claimed we have been trying to win every season, which of course is utter balderdash. Anyway, it’s not laying all your moves on the table, but being able to answer a question without sounding like a beauty pagent contestant would surely be welcome (with all apologies to beauty contestants).
Julian, you named every pitcher at AAA and AA, and left out the most obvious one: Rafael Montero! Not even mentioned once in the whole piece. Huh? How did that happen?
I only used pitchers that have yet to make the major leagues. In addition, the Mets have openly mentioned that Montero will probably make the bullpen- which makes me believe that he is no longer a choice for the rotation. I believe that Montero could be a viable 3rd-4th starter, but the Mets no longer view him that way.
Julian, just the other day Alderson said that he may be be a better fit for the rotation than Gee, but Gee obviously has more experience. Nonetheless, nothing is in stone and one can certainly see Montero as the choice to fill Wheeler’s spot in the rotation before any of those guys as it looks now and well before Peavey, Pill, Bowman and Mazzoni, but you did mention them. Just wondering how Montero got left out.
Wouldn’t Met fans prefer if Alderson was to say he’s concerned? It’s truthful and at the same time vague enough to give him an outlet in either direction. Wow from giving Wheeler some rest (as if 4 months during the off season wasn’t enough) to TJ surgery! So much for credibility!
I was extremely frustrated when the reports came out that Wheeler had pain, and Alderson said the team was not going to give him an MRI because he’s had to clean MRIs in the past. I’m glad they got the MRI and diagnosed Wheeler’s injury. Hopefully he’s back next season and contributing in a huge manner.
http://thereadzone.com/2015/03/18/no-pitcher-has-thrown-as-many-pitches-over-as-few-innings-as-zack-wheeler-this-millenium/
Great article. Basically what i’ve been preaching all of last year but with concrete data and research.
Read that article earlier today. So true. Of course, we’ve been saying this for some time now like you say!
Very interesting article Name. Same here Chris. Throwing 20 pitches virtually every inning has to take in such a short span has to take its toll. Especially the way Wheeler delivers pitches. You can add that to the information written in the article and you can see how being inefficient with his pitches had added to the strain. Scouts are going to say they saw this coming because of his throwing motion (inverted W). How many pitchers do the Mets have who have undergone TJ surgery? Four? Five? Sad to think but Niese may be next.
We are third ranked behind Braves (30) and Rangers (28) in TJ surgeries with 25 since 2005. That number likely does not include the 4 ACS operations on Johan, Byrdak and CY. So like it or not, it’s part of becoming a Mets pitcher.
Chris I was shocked to see in a recent photo on ESPN.com of Tanaka from the Yankees showing him getting ready to release his pitch. He had the same inverted W as Wheeler, I know DeGrom already has had TJ surgery. So that means that 60% of next years starting rotation would of had this surgery. Amazing
Yep, and all 3 of the top of rotation. Add the Niese and Gee surgeries for other things and well, no arm is clean.
With Noah working desperately to show he’s ready, it’s predictable that in the next year or two he succumbs. At least Matz has had TJ too. So it’s possible to envision a rotatio with everyone having had TJ.
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Interesting comments Pox. It’s easier to trade players when you know you don’t have the pressure to win immediately. When a GM has an edict to reduce payroll by 50 million dollars it’s easy to play GM. Moving Beltran and Dickey for max value was difficult? Or easy to do?. But since then what has Alderson done? Yes the team’s farm system ranks fourth and? Some organizations use their system to make upgrades to their 25 man roster. Depends on whether or not a team is in a wild card or divisional race. No GM was or is going to turn a MLB team around in 2 or 3 years. Are the Mets in a better place now then they were in 2010? Different circumstances? Same results?.Just keep watching the attendance figures for Citi.