Jon Paul Morosi of MLB.com reports free agent starter Zack Wheeler is going to notify the New York Mets he is going to reject the qualifying offer in advance of Thursday’s deadline. Part of the reason for Wheeler’s decision is he is garnering plenty of interest on the market.
So far, the Angels, Padres, and White Sox have already expressed interest in signing the 29 year old starter. Morosi contemplates the market for Wheeler could expand in the event he waits out Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg inking their own free agent deals.
Wheeler is coming off a year where he was 11-8 with a 3.96 ERA, 1.259 WHIP, 2.3 BB/9, and a 9.0 K/9. After not pitching for two years due to complications from Tommy John surgery, and his dealing with a stress reaction in 2017, Wheeler has put together back-t0-back seasons where he has thrown over 185.0 innings.
Over the past two years, Wheeler has a 3.37 FIP which ranks as 10th best in the majors. Notably, that is one spot ahead of Strasburg who is two years older. He has also thrown more innings than Strasburg during the past two regular seasons.
Notably, Morosi did not name the Mets as one of the teams who has expressed interest in signing Wheeler to a free agent deal. We should learn the level of the Mets interest in Wheeler in the upcoming days, weeks, and months. The same can be said for the aforementioned three teams as well as the rest of Major League Baseball.
