Here’s a quick update. In an interview with MLB.com on Sunday, Mets manager Terry Collins said that right-hander Zack Wheeler is looking great and is ahead of schedule as he continues his comeback from Tommy John surgery last Spring.
“He looks tremendous,” Collins said. “He’s in St. Lucie now. He’s throwing. He realizes it’s going to be a couple of months before he’s ready to go. That’s why we got Bartolo Colon back. We thought we’d get back a quality starter like Bartolo, especially for early in the year”
It almost sounds as though Wheeler could return to the rotation by early June rather than July. But with Colon on the team, the Mets will take their time easing Wheeler back.
Previous Report – 1/12
New York Mets starter Zack Wheeler is still on track to return from the Tommy John surgery that wiped out his 2014 season sometime during the middle of summer.
When asked about the possible return date, Wheeler responded: “I said from the beginning June or July. That’s still the timetable for me. There’s this process; you never know if you’re going to have setbacks. They could be late, could be earlier. You never know. I’m not really trying to set a timetable.” (Steven Marcus, Newsday)
Wheeler, 25, will add another young power arm to a rotation that already includes Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz when he returns, giving the Mets one of the most formidable starting five in baseball.
Until Wheeler is ready, veteran right-hander Bartolo Colon was re-signed to a one-year deal and will start the season as the fifth starter. Colon’s strong 2015 makes the Mets confident of his role as a back of the rotation starter, but it could give the team the option of dealing Wheeler for a big bat and te young righty knows it.
“You never know. Something could happen,” Wheeler said. “I was traded (to the Mets on July 28, 2011, when he was a Giants minor-leaguer), so you never know. You just try to keep your hopes up, keep pushing through, do what you’ve got to do to get better.”
Right now, there is no such talk of trading Wheeler as the Mets are focusing on his return.
“Zack is progressing very well,” Alderson said. “We expect him to be ready sometime midseason. His call demonstrated a strong desire to stay with the Mets. He is loyal to his teammates and believes in the direction of the team. This says a lot about Zack and about the Mets.”
Wheeler has sort of become the forgotten man in the rotation with the emergence of the other young starters, but we’ll be hearing more and more from him as he gets closer to a return to the rotation this summer.
