Zack Wheeler

New York Mets Zack Wheeler injury doesn't derail team's chances

Published Mar. 16, 2015 1:02 p.m. ET

foxsports

All Tommy John surgeries are a blow, let's start right there. Doesn't matter how successfully most pitchers recover. Doesn't matter how deep a team's pitching staff is.

That said, the Mets' loss of right-hander Zack Wheeler will not cripple the team's chances in 2015, not even close.

In terms of sheer run prevention, the Mets are essentially trading out Wheeler for fellow right-hander Matt Harvey, who is nearly 18 months removed from his own TJ.

Dillon Gee could fill the empty spot in the rotation, and no, he is not Wheeler. But the Mets have spent the past several years building one of the game's most impressive collections of young arms. Right-handers Rafael Montero and Noah Syndergaard and lefty Steven Matz all could emerge as valuable contributors this season.

Yes, I'm rationalizing -- the Mets would be positioned far better with Wheeler than without him. And I understand why Mets fans continue to be fatalistic -- their team gives them good reason.

Tommy Johns are an industry-wide plague, but it's fair to question the Mets' failures to keep pitchers healthy; lefty reliever Josh Edgin also is headed for a TJ, and Harvey is coming off one.

It's particularly fair to question why Wheeler was fourth in the NL in pitches per start last season. At age 24. In his first full season. Pitching for a team that fell out of contention.

The Mets are built to absorb these kind of blows. No team is immune from them. But are the Mets doing everything possible to protect their prized young assets? That's the question that club officials should be asking themselves today.

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Zack Wheeler

New York Mets