Mets Hold Onto Syndergaard and Wheeler: What Does This Mean?

What does it mean for the New York Mets since they held on to two of their starters?

The Mets have been playing some pretty good baseball lately, winning 13 of their last 19 games since coming out of the All Star Break. Granted, they’ve feasted on some of the weaker teams in Pittsburgh, San Diego, Miami, and Chicago (W). They’ve now brought their record to 53-56 and find themselves just 4.5 games out of a Wild Card spot.

This recent hot streak of theirs has resulted in the Mets turning the tables on everybody and becoming “buyers” at the trade deadline. In a shocking move, Brodie Van Wagenen acquired Marcus Stroman from Toronto in return for their #1 pitching prospect in Anthony Kay. Remember, they also dealt away their previous #1 pitching prospect in Justin Dunn and overall #1 prospect/#1 pick in 2018 in Jarred Kelenic to Seattle in the Edwin Diaz/Robinson Cano trade.

2019 has been a season for the Mets that we just can’t seem to get a grasp on. Managers have been fighting with reporters. Top pitchers were heavily dangled on the trade block. The front office and manager have had their own run-ins with each other. And to top it all off, they’ve lost some really good prospects in trades that haven’t panned out yet.

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But now, all of a sudden, the Mets find themselves in position to save their future since they’ve opted to keep Noah Syndergaard and Zack Wheeler on board for the time being. What was looking like a sure rebuild deal for this team (assuming Syndergaard and Wheeler were going away) has now reverted back to the Mets holding power in on of the best rotations in baseball.

This team has some issues to deal with in terms of a lack of position player prospects, but a solid foundation in the starting pitching can surely do wonders for these guys moving forward to 2020 and beyond.

But this only works out if they re-sign Zack Wheeler in the offseason and repair the relationship with Noah Syndergaard in the meantime. Both guys have been in constant trade talks for the past two years and could have (and probably should have) been out of New York by now.

This is the Mets’ second chance to turn this ship around. They still have Zack and Thor under their control with a little over two months to play in a season. Do they work to extend Zack Wheeler before he hits free agency? That wouldn’t be a bad idea. Do they commit to Syndergaard for the long term as well? That’s also something they should do.

Back in 2015, this team was the Fab Five with Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Thor, Wheeler, and Steven Matz as the rotation of the future. Last year, Harvey fell apart and now he’s on the edge of being out of the league. This year (and also last year) deGrom, Syndergaard, and Wheeler have been heavily talked about as trade targets. And it seemed as though the Fab Five would go down in history as one of the biggest wastes of talent in sports history.

But looking forward now, this thing might not be over just yet for the Mets and the big three of deGrom, Syndergaard, and Wheeler. There’s still a chance this team can retain and march forward with all three.