Former Mets pitcher Zack Wheeler disses the Flushing front office

According to Zack Wheeler, the New York Mets didn’t show much interest in bringing him back for the 2020 season.

The rivalry is on. When Zack Wheeler signed with the Philadelphia Phillies this winter, we knew he would become a heel in the New York Mets world. What we didn’t expect was for some bitterness to brew about how things ended in New York.

Earlier this winter, Wheeler had some harsh words for Brodie Van Wagenen in response to the comments he made about the former Mets’ pitcher and his price tag.

More recently, Wheeler expressed his displeasure with the team’s lack of interest this winter. Specifically, Wheeler never heard back from them when offers began to come in. His response: “It’s how they roll.”

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Normally you’ll find fans siding with their team over a scorned ex-player. In this case, particularly with the way the front office has handled the managerial situation and potential ownership change, I’m not so sure the percentages are close.

Wheeler isn’t dissing the fans. In fact, this almost sounds like he could have preferred to stay in orange and blue.

After receiving the offer from the Phillies, Wheeler said he got “crickets” back from the Mets. It seems the team had little interest in keeping him around beyond the 2019 season.

With Wheeler, I don’t think there’s much mystery or arguing to be made about the situation. He’s certainly a talented player and definitely out of the Wilpon’s typical price range. Most Mets fans will agree it’s impossible to envision any scenario where he gets a $100+ million deal from Van Wagenen with the current ownership regime.

We can also all relate to not going an important phone call back. My dad still won’t answer my calls and he went out to get a pack of smokes 30 years ago.

This is the kind of baseball rivalry that is great for baseball. Wheeler’s disgust for the ownership trickles down to a few parts of the franchise but doesn’t reach the level where he’s feuding with players or saying anything negative about the fans.

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We’ll get to see Wheeler plenty in 2020 and beyond. Surely, he’ll hope to prove to the Mets he’s worth every shekel the Phillies are paying him.