Mets righty Zack Wheeler has won his arbitration case against the team, according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Wheeler, a client of Jet Sports Management, will earn the $1.9MM he requested rather than the $1.5MM figure the team sought.
Obviously, the arbitration panel’s decision won’t have a drastic impact on the New York balance sheet for the coming season. And it won’t mean much for the future, either, as Wheeler only has one additional season of arbitration eligibility remaining.
Still, this is a relatively substantial victory — certainly, from Wheeler’s perspective but also for a union that’s currently engaged in a larger rhetorical battle as the free agent market limps along. As MLBTR’s 2018 MLB Arbitration Tracker shows, the players have thus far taken seven of ten arbitration cases, with thirteen still left to be decided.
Wheeler, 27, returned from a long Tommy John layoff to make 17 MLB starts last year. He still has a ways to go, though, to regain his former trajectory, as he ended the year with a 5.21 ERA and 8.4 K/9 against 4.2 BB/9 over 86 1/3 frames.
I was pretty pissed when the Giants traded him for Beltran but in hindsight I didn’t really have much to be pissed about.
Trade ultimately didn’t help either team.
In hindsight, getting rid of Wheeler might have been a blessing in disguise. If your team constantly relies on a starting pitcher who is always on the DL, it affects your team. You plan on him starting #3 or #4 and when the DL comes year after year you’re left scrambling to replace him.
Eh, unfortunately due to his constant health issues I don’t think the Mets ever really got to a position where they relied on him. He wasn’t even part of the 2015 world series team or 2016 wildcard team. I hope he bounces back this season though.
What makes you think that he will have a bounce back season?
You will be lucky if he makes 18-20 starts without DL stints.
Glad he won though. All of the young arms that the Mets messed up should punish them in arbitration.
I thought you were bannished from this site for trolling.
Thats why i dont get all worked up bout prospects until they perform
and he has, when healthy
There is nothing worse than trading Joe Nathan and Francisco Liriano for bleepin’ A.J. Pierzynski
Jake Arrieta and Pedro Strop for Scott Feldman and Steve Clevenger
Pedro for Delino, Bagwell for Larry Anderson, Ivan De Jesus for Larry Bowa and some kid named Ryne Sandberg. I think those all qualify.
I guess I meant for Giants fans. Yeah, history has definitely seen some epic, bad trades.
I realize $400k is a lot of money to the average person but in the baseball world, it’s not much. Frankly, I think it demonstrates the cheapness or maybe just lack of confidence in the player (or both) by the Mets by letting this go to arbitration.
Look at his career stats, thats a lot of $ for a mediocre career and coming off tj surgery
They likely offered to split the difference. Should they just have said “no big deal” and given in? How about with other players? And it was 26% more than they thought he was worth, so not that smart of an amount.
Oops meant to to say small, not smart.
It does matter. It guarantees high salary in the future. Work the system
On the flipside, if 400K is NOT a lot of money to the team, why would they waste resources trying to do anything OTHER than let it go to arbitration?
Negotiations take time and consume manpower that can be spent on other things. They have little to gain by trying to negotiate a salary over a difference of 400 thousand dollars.
You’ve got it backwards. When the arbitration spread is huge, that’s when the team has incentive to negotiate a deal.
The point is that going to arbitration takes the team more time than negotiating with the player. Each side presents its case in person to the arbitration panel, so the team needs to gather its facts and prepare that presentation.
Rarely do I side with ownership, but in arbitration cases they are almost always better off going to a hearing because every $ they save in the first year will likely be “saved” in future years. $400k this year, means $400k more than would have been secured in the 2nd year, and so on. It also behooves the owners to keep the Arb salaries down because a guy getting a big deal on another team can influence the comparison $’s when it comes to your team’s players.
As noted in the post, it’s obviously more or less a drop in the bucket when viewed in isolation from a baseball perspective. But it was a pretty substantial (>25%) spread relative to the team filing level. And this is one of a number of cases — far more than usual — being tried this year.
Arbitration haggling is an underappreciated element of the broader player take from the MLB system. There are hundreds of millions of dollars decided through the system each year. It’s notable, especially in this free agent market, that so many cases are going to trial. If one side or the other clearly prevails over the scope of cases, they are not only earning slightly larger slices of the pie along the way but are helping to build the case for greater future arb earnings.
I can’t understand how the arbitration comitee even justified its position to give him a raise. He has been worthless since he arrived. Not only has he being injured, but when he is not injured, he sucks. a 94ERA+ amd losing record doesn’t justify his salery.
Seems like the worse a player was in 2017, the greater his chances of winning an arbitration hearing.
This guy has to end up a reliever, right? Seems like that would be his best chance at revitalizing his once-promising career.
Zach was supposed to be as solid as bumgartner, the next lincevum/cain duo. As i said, prospects aren’t anything till they deliver.
He’s never posted a WHIP <1.3. When would you have considered his career vital or promising? Since reaching the majors, that is. Wheeler has yet to find the plate frequently enough to be of much use. How many successful pitchers can you think of who walk four and a half batters per nine?
He was the #6 overall pick in the 2009 draft, and one of the Giants’ highest rated prospects at the time he was traded, which is what the previous person is referring to.
Zach was supposed to be as solid as Bumgartner, the next Lincecum/Cain duo. As i said, prospects aren’t anything till they deliver.
Are players winning more arbitration hearings this offseason or was I just not paying as much attention in more “normal” offseasons?
No, there’s just no other news to notice instead.
Zach was supposed to be as solid as bumgartner, the next lincevum/cain duo. As i said, prospects aren’t anything till they deliver.
flcarguy, I’d love to hear your thoughts on prospects. you’ve been relatively shy on sharing whether you think they’re anything before they deliver.
That might be subscription only(highly recommended).
Haha. Sorry, just signed up. Site a bit difficult for this old boy on small android screen
My question is how? What possible argument did his reps bring to the table?
Umm he’s alive. It seems like some of these guys just have to show up and they get a raise. Be healthy, nope not necessary. Be effective? Nope don’t need that either. Are you breathing? Yes ok well we think our client deserves a raise. Breathing is hard in the smog of New York. A 25% raise should be good.
Zach came up with a ton of natural talent. Scouting reports from the year he was trading and year after had him slated as a TOR. Unfortunately he throws too many pitches and he got hurt. He needs to be more efficient. He has shown flashes, but it’s all about consistency. He could be a lights out BP arm, though I’m still hoping the Mets give him a shot at the rotation to pitch 6in/game.
Bingo! Couldn’t sum up Zach any better than that.
At either price, it’s a cheap option for a controllable pitcher who might have real upside. If he’s bad, you cut him loose. If the Mets really didn’t want him, they could have refused to offer him arbitration.
With the amount of time Wheeler spends on the DL I don’t think he’s even worth the 1.5 mil they offered. Guy better earn his paycheck this season.
Zach Wheeler defeats Mets this offseason, after helping them get defeated several times in the regular season…