Three years after nearly acquiring Zack Wheeler, the Brewers are once again interested in trading for the New York Mets’ hurler.
New York Mets right-hander Zack Wheeler finds himself in a similar situation, but the details of said situation are quite different.
Back in 2015, the Mets were looking for a position player that’d jumpstart the offense and were targeting Carlos Gomez from the Milwaukee Brewers. We all know that trade never happened — which included Wilmer Flores‘ tears — before they ended up acquiring Yoenis Cespedes.
Fast-forward to present day, and New York is now labeled as the seller while Milwaukee is a contender, with the Brewers looking for someone to help their ailing starting rotation, according to MLB.com’s Jon Morosi.
At 59-46 entering Friday’s action, manager Craig Counsell’s team is 2.5 games behind the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central. They’ve done it without having staff ace Jimmy Nelson all year long, but things are about to get a little harder unless they can get some outside assistance via trade.
Zach Davies was expected to be a big piece of Milwaukee’s 2018 puzzle (pitched to a 3.90 ERA in 191.1 innings in 2017), but he’s only been on the bump for 43 innings this year due to various ailments and isn’t close to returning. Brent Suter — seen as depth for this area of the roster — also just hit the disabled list with a torn UCL that will eventually require Tommy John surgery.
So, if the Brewers plan on staying in the playoff hunt through the dog days and summer and into the fall, they’re going to need some help. Wheeler would be a solid addition to their current rotation mix, as could Asdrubal Cabrera.
