Let's Talk Some Zack Wheeler Speculation

There has been a ton of speculation over the course of the last few weeks about the White Sox pursuit of Zack Wheeler, and rightfully so.  After Cole and Strasburg, he’s more than likely the best SP on the open market for them to pursue, yet Wheeler won’t command that absurd “fuck you” contract the top 2 will.

Here are Fangraph’s predictions for what he’ll sign for:

a lot of money?  Fuck yes.  A lot of money with respect to what his peers will sign for?  Not even close.  Which is why he’d be the perfect lynchpin for the White Sox.  That said, there are a lot of people who don’t understand why he’s so highly sought after.  One reason are his face value stats:

Nothing too sexy.  Not at all.  But the most important thing is this:

The Mets, by at least a few accounts, didn’t fully tape into the potential that made him the 6th overall pick in 2009.  Don’t take it from me, take it from the nerds at Fangraphs and Baseball Savant.  He can really chuck it:

Read: his peripherals and pure “shit” are top of the rotation.  The Mets just couldn’t figure out how to hone his repertoire and turn him into the top of the rotation arm someone is about to pay him to be.  So that 3.96ERA he had last year?  Throw it out the window.  His FIP suggest his ERA should have been mid 3’s and with his 1 K/ 1IP and low walk rate, weak contact allowed, and good GB/FB rates all say his best days could very well be in front of him.  His stuff also says so:

That’s an EASY 99-100MPH.  That said I’d be lying if I said his arm action doesn’t scare me at least a little bit.

So with all of the media smoke from National guys like Heyman surrounding the Sox and Wheeler, I fully expect them to land him.  Maybe today even.  And I know I’ve gotten myself into trouble with this mindset before, but the White Sox are done fucking around.  They’re setting the market, not playing games with the market.  The Yasmani Grandal signing is proof of that.  My guess?  5 years, $105MM with the White Sox.  Wheeler fits so well into the White Sox rotation both financially and as a pitcher that I truly think it’s a match made in heaven.  And I haven’t even mentioned how he’ll be throwing to one of the very best catchers in baseball every 5 days.

Ink Wheeler, get Kopech/Rodon healthy and this team is cooking with gas. There will be ancillary signings and trades to round out the roster, but the fun is here.  That’s why I said the rebuild was over on 9/29/2019.   Again, they’re now setting markets.  Unless someone vastly overpays him, then I don’t see there’s any way he’s not on the south side next year.

With that said watch the Twins give him $130MM over 6 years because that’s the way things work for me.