Every trade deadline carries uncertainty. Few players have lived through as many sides of it as Zack Wheeler.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s deadline arrives with a fitting bookend. Carlos Beltr\u00e1n entered the Baseball Hall of Fame last Sunday, almost exactly 15 years after Wheeler learned secondhand he had been traded for him.<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old Wheeler was pitching for High-A San Jose in the Giants\u2019 organization in 2011. He was staying with his host family in California\u2019s Silicon Valley when he woke up and saw the news moving across ESPN\u2019s ticker.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a little different then, just because there wasn\u2019t as much social media-type stuff,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cI woke up and we were kind of just sitting there, and we saw it ticking across the bottom that it probably was going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Giants had won the World Series the year before. Their pitching staff was strong enough to repeat, but their offense needed help.<\/p>\n
Beltr\u00e1n, already one of the greatest postseason performers in baseball history, was the impact bat they wanted.<\/p>\n
Wheeler, their 2009 first-rounder, was the price.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Giants were trying to go back to back, basically,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cThey were having a good run there for a little bit. It was nice to be part of the organization and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
He did not want to leave.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really enjoyed my time there,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cI wanted to stay there, obviously. But it\u2019s a business, and that\u2019s when I learned that it was a business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wheeler had heard that the Giants could move either him or outfielder Gary Brown. They chose Wheeler.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess the Mets wanted me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That decision helped shape his career.<\/p>\n
Beltr\u00e1n played well after the trade, but the Giants missed the postseason. He signed with the Cardinals that offseason. San Francisco won another World Series without him in 2012.<\/p>\n
Wheeler remained with the Mets and reached the majors in 2013.<\/p>\n
By 2015, New York had built one of baseball\u2019s most celebrated young rotations around Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard. Wheeler was supposed to be part of it, but Tommy John surgery wiped out his season.<\/p>\n
He was rehabbing in Port St. Lucie when the deadline placed his future in doubt again. This time, the news did not crawl quietly across a television screen the next morning. Social media had changed the way trades unfolded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just sitting there watching the game on TV, and then it came across that me and Wilmer [Flores] got traded,\u201d Wheeler said.<\/p>\n
The reported deal would have sent Wheeler and Flores to Milwaukee for outfielder Carlos G\u00f3mez.<\/p>\n
Flores remained in the game at Citi Field as the news spread through the crowd. Believing he had played his final game for the only major-league organization he had known, Flores famously cried on the field.<\/p>\n
Wheeler had become close with Flores. He felt for him as an unfinished transaction became public in the middle of a game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hated that it happened midgame to him,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cIt probably could have worked out a little bit differently. Things do happen, and they probably didn\u2019t mean for it to get out then, but it did.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trade never became official. The Mets backed out because of concerns raised by G\u00f3mez\u2019s medical information.<\/p>\n
Wheeler and Flores remained with New York.<\/p>\n
Wheeler later called Mets general manager Sandy Alderson and expressed his desire to stay. But the collapsed G\u00f3mez deal did not exactly remove him from the market.<\/p>\n
His name soon resurfaced in talks involving Cincinnati outfielder Jay Bruce. Over the next several years, Wheeler heard himself connected to the Yankees and other clubs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like I was kind of in trade discussions every year,\u201d he said. \u201cThey had basically the top guys in the rotation at the time. I was kind of the bottom half of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvey, deGrom and Syndergaard had established themselves. Wheeler was talented enough to interest other organizations but had not stayed healthy long enough to cement his place beside them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t one of the main guys,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I was able to be traded, basically. I was always kind of the guy floated out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The uncertainty became a familiar part of his summers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say nervous,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cIt was more of [an] anxious time of year, because I knew I\u2019d always kind of be out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wheeler never spent much time imagining how his career might have unfolded elsewhere. He learned to accept how little control players have at the deadline.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a laid-back guy, and whatever happens, happens,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cIf I did get traded, so be it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Older teammates also helped him understand that appearing in trade discussions was not necessarily a rejection.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf somebody trades for you, they want you,\u201d he said. \u201cThey see potential in you, and they think that you can help them.\u201d<\/p>\n
It also did not always mean the team moving a player had stopped believing in him.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe we have a surplus of guys, which we did at the time,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cIt just happens to work out that way numbers-wise.\u201d<\/p>\n
The failed G\u00f3mez trade eventually worked out for the Mets.<\/p>\n
They acquired Yoenis C\u00e9spedes from Detroit for pitching prospects Michael Fulmer and Luis Cessa. C\u00e9spedes transformed their lineup and helped push them to the National League pennant.<\/p>\n
Wheeler watched while recovering from surgery. Rehabilitation setbacks also cost him the entire 2016 season.<\/p>\n
He returned in 2017.<\/p>\n
Two years later, with his contract nearing its expiration, Wheeler again became one of the most discussed pitchers ahead of the deadline.<\/p>\n
The Mets were hanging around the playoff race. Wheeler was healthy, pitching well and months from free agency. Contenders searching for rotation help had every reason to call.<\/p>\n
The Mets listened but did not move him.<\/p>\n
Wheeler made 11 starts after the deadline and posted a 2.66 ERA. He proved his health, strengthened his free-agent market and finished his Mets tenure with the type of run that once existed mostly as projection.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tZack Wheeler signed a five-year contract worth $118 million this past offseason with the Phillies and he’s been nothing but spectacular. Ricky Bottalico believes it’s the best signing of the offseason.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The Phillies signed him to a five-year, $118 million contract that December.<\/p>\n
From Aug. 1, 2019 through now, Wheeler owns a 2.86 ERA, the lowest among the 76 major-league starters who have made at least 110 starts over that span.<\/p>\n
The last time Wheeler was not traded, he began the best stretch of his career.<\/p>\n
The Phillies should be thrilled.<\/p>\n
Beltr\u00e1n\u2019s induction offers another way to measure how far Wheeler has traveled since that morning in California.<\/p>\n
When the Giants acquired Beltr\u00e1n, Wheeler was known nationally as the prospect surrendered for an established star. Beltr\u00e1n was already a nine-time All-Star with one of the greatest postseason r\u00e9sum\u00e9s in baseball history.<\/p>\n
Wheeler said people around the sport helped him understand what it meant.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou got traded for a future Hall of Famer,\u201d Wheeler recalled being told.<\/p>\n
Beltr\u00e1n\u2019s path to Cooperstown later became complicated by his role in the Astros\u2019 sign-stealing scandal. His induction still added another layer to Wheeler\u2019s first deadline experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s one of the best switch hitters that has ever come through the game,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely cool to look back on my career and think that was part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wheeler has Hall of Fame aspirations of his own.<\/p>\n
If he eventually reaches Cooperstown, the 2011 deal would join a short list of trades involving a future Hall of Fame player on each side.<\/p>\n
According to Sportradar, there have been three known one-for-one trades involving players who were later inducted: Amos Rusie for Christy Mathewson in 1900, Edd Roush for High Pockets Kelly in 1927 and Joe Torre for Orlando Cepeda in 1969, although Torre was inducted as a manager rather than a player.<\/p>\n
The possibility is striking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat would be pretty cool,\u201d Zack Wheeler said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every trade deadline carries uncertainty. Few players have lived through as many sides of it as Zack Wheeler.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70,107758,95339],"class_list":["post-257274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-phillies-feature","tag-phillies-trade-deadline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}