Mets fans hoping for the prospect of free agency to move Zack Wheeler out of the National League East saw that notion dashed on Monday when the former New York hurler agreed to a three-year contract extension worth $126 million to remain with the Philadelphia Phillies, per multiple reports.
With a $42 million annual value, it’s the largest contract extension given out in MLB history.
The 33-year-old right-hander was on track to hit free agency following the 2024 season where he would have been one of the marquee arms available.
Wheeler spent eight-plus years with the Mets organization after he was traded from the San Francisco Giants for Carlos Beltran in 2011. Quickly becoming one of the club’s top prospects, injuries and mismanagement saw him develop into a mediocre pitcher in Queens. In 126 starts from 2013-2019, he went 44-38 with a 3.77 ERA, a 1.295 WHIP, and 2.69 strikeouts per walk.
Hitting free agency after the 2019 season, he was offered a five-year, $118 million deal from the Phillies, which prompted him to go back and ask the Mets to consider matching that offer to stay in Queens.
“It was basically just crickets,” Wheeler said at the time when he reached out to the team’s former general manager Brodie Van Wagenen. “[I’m not surprised] because it’s them. That’s how they roll.”
Van Wagenen struck back saying that New York helped him “parlay two good half-seasons over the last five [years] into $118 million.”
Under proper guidance in Philadelphia and with the bulletin board material provided by Van Wagenen, Wheeler has met the high expectations that were once placed upon him when he was in the Mets’ farm system.
He’s been one of the top-tier pitchers in the National League since 2020, going 43-25 with a 3.06 ERA, a 1.055 WHIP, and five strikeouts per walk. He finished second in the Cy Young voting in 2021 when he went 14-10 with a 2.78 ERA with an NL-leading 247 strikeouts.
In 14 starts against the Mets, he’s 5-4 with a 3.64 ERA.
