The Mets may have found their first trade partner of July. Shocker, it’s the Yankees. They have shown mild interest in Zack Wheeler.
The New York Mets have found some interest in Zack Wheeler and one of the teams that are inquiring about him is the Yankees.
Lately there have been some rumors floating around that the Yankees are interested in trading for Wheeler. To be fair, the Yankees appear to be interested in every starting pitcher these days.
They have inquired about players such as J.A. Happ, Michael Fulmer, and others. Wheeler is just another addition to the long list.
There have also been rumors in the past that the YanMets
interest in either Jacob deGrom or Noah Syndergaard, but the price for either would have been too much for the Yankees.
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Wheeler, however, is a much cheaper option and might only cost the Yankees one or two mid level prospects. Also with that Yankees not willing to part with Justus Sheffield for Manny Machado, they may be more eager to land another started quickly.
As it stands, the Yankees have three main prospects that the Mets could look into regarding Wheeler. The first of them is Dillon Tate.
He’s a 24-year-old pitcher who’s spent this season and last between single and double A and he’s been doing pretty well. Last year he pitched to a 2.81 ERA after 13 starts.
This year he’s been pitching better. While his ERA stands at 3.38, his K/9 rose from 6.8 to 8.2 and his WHIP dropped a small amount. This is a fair amount of progress that shows he can be a decent Wheeler replacement in the future.
The next prospect the Mets could look into is Cody Carroll. He’s been one of the Yankees best minor league relievers and he’s thrown 37 innings already in triple A meaning he won’t be too far away from the majors.
This season his ERA is 2.63 and his K/9 is a little over 11. He has the ability to get a lot of strikeouts while only walking a few batters.
One final target is Billy McKinney. He’s played in two major league games in March but has since been back in the minors.
In the minors this year, he hasn’t been known for making contact but has decent power. He’s hitting .241 with 12 home runs and 32 RBI’s through 191 at-bats. He would make a solid hitter and is ready for the majors too.
Next: Mets should trade for one of these seven prospects
Some fans might not want to see a Mets player going to the Yankees, but it’s a road that needs to be taken if the Mets can get something good in return for Wheeler.