As the New York Mets continue to make some playoff push, they got bad news as one of their prominent pitchers won’t be back this season. The news came down earlier today that Zack Wheeler is being shut down for the remainder of the 2016 season. This came down after an MRI exam was down on Wednesday confirmed that Wheeler has a mild flexor strain in his right elbow that will keep him inactive for a minimum of the next two weeks.
The righty ended being examined by legendary orthopedist James Andrews. This was after concerns started to rise about constant discomfort in his elbow. It should be noted that Wheeler went for Tommy John surgery last year during spring training. He did make his first minor league start on August 6 as he threw 17 pitches for Single-A St. Lucie. It should be noted that Zach Wheeler’s teammate Matt Harvey is also shut down for the 2016 season,
Before Wednesday night’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field, assistant general manager John Ricco had some remarks on the news regarding Zack Wheeler. He said, “Obliviously the good news is the ligament was intact- there are no problems there.”
It should be noted that the New York Mets aren’t officially ruling out him for 2016, the fact has been told to wait until September to resume baseball activates and he should be able to build up arm strength through his rehab starts. Also, it should be noted that the season for the minor league team ends in September.
Originally, the New York Mets were hoping to have Wheeler back by July 1, allowing the Fab Five of young arms of Wheeler, Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, and Steve Matz be part of the same rotation for the first time. However, that became a dream for this year when back in June, Matt Harvey was shut down for the season following being diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome in June and underwent successful surgery.
I feel it should depend on where the Mets are by the start of September. If they are completely out of it, then shut down Wheeler completely. If the Mets still have a shot to make the playoffs then maybe give Wheeler a shot. A lot of things will go into consideration when the time comes to determine if we see Wheeler this season or we wait until 2017 to see him