With news coming down on Friday afternoon that Matt Harvey would be electing to go with season-ending surgery to address his diagnosis of thoracic outlet syndrome, it’s very unlikely that the Mets will be turning to right-hander Zack Wheeler anytime soon.
Prior to the start of the season, it was believed that we would be seeing Wheeler right about now. But manager Terry Collins told reporters on Friday that there is currently no timetable for his return to the big league club.
“We talked in spring training, we thought this week he would have been doing his final rehab start to join us after the break,” Collins said. “Now we have no idea when he’s coming. Yeah, it’s another huge setback.”
For the time being the team will look to Logan Verrett to fill the shoes of the injured Harvey. General manager Sandy Alderson briefed reporters on Wheeler’s current status as he continues to work his way back from Tommy John surgery, but offered no clarity on a projected date for his return.
“It’s still indeterminate. He hasn’t even thrown off a slope again, so we had to back him off,” Alderson said. “I believe it’s still too early to put that kind of pressure on Zack with a target date.”
“He may do some slope work over this weekend, but at this point there is really no way to project when he would be ready to pitch at the major league level.”
The Mets have admitted at this point that they may need to look externally for a permanent replacement with Wheeler still being such a question mark.
“We’ll take a look at what’s there. We’re always obviously comparing what’s out there with what we have,” Alderson said. No names have been linked yet to the Mets as far as possible trade targets go.
Baseball is a funny game. At the start of the season the Mets rotation was considered to be the team’s biggest strength. But with Harvey out for the year, Steven Matz pitching with a bone spur that will ultimately require surgery, and Noah Syndergaard leaving Friday’s start with what the team is calling “arm fatigue,” things have gotten a little dicey for the defending NL champs.
