Right-hander Zack Wheeler had spent his entire MLB career with the Mets before he signed a $118 million free agent contract with the NL East-rival Phillies this offseason.
Wheeler hasn't enjoyed frontline results in terms of run prevention, but his stuff, spin rate, and recent health inspired the pitching-thirsty Phils to make the nine-figure investment in him. No doubt, Wheeler's thinking is mostly on the future, but he still hasn't completely wiped from his mind the team that traded for him when he was a 21-year-old minor leaguer in the Giants system. Regard this recent comment from Wheeler:
Zack Wheeler told @GJoyce9 of The Post he’s not surprised he never heard back from the Mets last December before signing his new contract. Why wasn’t he surprised? “Because it’s them,” he said. “It’s how they roll.”
— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) February 13, 2020
High-level athletes are necessarily ego-driven to some extent -- it's a job requirement in a real sense. As a consequence, those egos can be easily bruised, and it sounds like that's the case with Wheeler and the Mets.
Because this is the Mets, though, they couldn't let a perfectly pedestrian bit of shade go by unremarked upon. GM Brodie Van Wagenen, take it away:
BVW took exception to Wheeler’s rip of #Mets.
— David Lennon (@DPLennon) February 14, 2020
“Our health & performance dept, our coaches, all contributed and helped him parlay 2 good half seasons over the last 5 yrs into $118M. So I’m proud of what our group was able to help him accomplish. I’m happy he was rewarded for it”
This probably isn't the stinging rejoinder that Van Wagened imagined it to be while it was still penned up in his head. He at once compliments his health and performance department while dismissing Wheeler's body of work as "two good half seasons." Well, which is it?
The first rule of yelling on social media or for public consumption is "do not own thyself." Mr. Van Wagenen appears to have violated this bedrock principle.
In any event, Wheeler is slotted in as the Phillies' No. 2 starter this season, and they'll play the Mets 19 times in 2020. That should provide plenty of opportunity for Van Wagenen to glower down upon his former charge from a luxury suite.
Developing story? Probably not.
