Zack Wheeler continues to haunt the Mets.
The right-handed hurler on Monday signed a three-year extension worth a reported $126 million to remain with the Philadelphia Phillies through 2027, demonstrating his standing as one of MLB’s premier pitchers.
That $42 million annual salary represents the fourth-largest in league history – all for a player the Mets let leave in free agency four years ago, and go to a division rival, no less.
“We think Zack is as good as anybody in baseball right now,” Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies’ president of baseball operations, said Monday at a news conference announcing the extension.
“I don’t think I could think of another individual I’d rather have take the ball in a big game.”
Wheeler, 33, boasts a 43-25 record, a 3.06 ERA and 675 strikeouts in 629.1 innings since joining the Phillies before the 2020 season, establishing himself as a dependable workhorse who overcame the injuries that plagued his early years.
He’s been even better in the postseason, pitching to a 2.42 ERA during Philadelphia’s runs to the World Series in 2022 and the NLCS last year.
Originally taken sixth overall by the San Francisco Giants in 2009, Wheeler went to the Mets two years later in a trade for Carlos Beltran. By the time he made his MLB debut in 2013, the hard-throwing Wheeler had emerged as one of baseball’s top prospects, inviting fantasies of an overpowering Mets rotation that, by 2015, also featured Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Steven Matz and Noah Syndergaard.
That rotation crashed, however, as arm injuries ailed all five pitchers.
Wheeler underwent Tommy John surgery before the 2015 season to repair an elbow tear, rendering him inactive for the Mets’ run to the World Series that year. Subsequent setbacks cost Wheeler the 2016 season, too, threatening his future as a frontline MLB starter.
Arm issues persisted for Wheeler in 2017, who struggled to a 5.21 ERA over 17 starts during his first season in three years.
In 2018, Wheeler finally began to resemble the pitcher who arrived with so much hype.
Wheeler posted a 3.31 ERA over 182.1 innings in 29 starts, marking his best season in the majors. He followed that up in 2019 with a 3.96 ERA over a career-high 195.1 innings in 31 starts and entered free agency after back-to-back durable seasons.
Wheeler turned those encouraging campaigns into a five-year, $118 million contract with the Phillies, who paired him with All-Star Aaron Nola atop their rotation.
Before he signed with Philadelphia, Wheeler allegedly checked in with then-Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen, and said he heard “crickets.”
“That’s how they roll,” Wheeler said at the time.
In reference to Wheeler’s contract, Van Wagenen suggested the pitcher was able to “parlay two good half-seasons over the last five into $118 million.”
The deal paid off handsomely for Philadelphia, as Wheeler finished within the top 12 of National League Cy Young Award voting three times from 2020-23, including as the runner-up in 2021 and in sixth place last year. His 213.1 innings in 2021 led the NL.
“I just try to take the ball every time out and just be consistent and be consistently good,” Wheeler said Monday. “I’ve got to give credit to the training staff, keeping me out on the field, and working with Caleb [Cotham], our pitching coach. He’s helped me out a ton, off-speed wise, and just taking me to that next level.”
Wheeler’s extension kicks in for the 2025 season. The Mets handed out two of the three deals with larger annual salaries to since-traded aces Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, whose contracts both average $43.3 million per year.
Ironically, as Wheeler thrives, the Mets’ current staff is dealing with a key injury to Kodai Senga, who is out indefinitely with a shoulder strain.
“We know pitching is a risk at any age,” Dombrowski said Monday. “We think [Wheeler] knows himself well, works well with the training staff, and we think he can continue to last and pitch at this type of level.”
If that’s the case, the Mets will be forced to watch Wheeler dominate for an NL East opponent for at least four more seasons.
