PORT ST. LUCIE — Mets general manager Sandy Alderson isn’t the only one defending the team’s handling of Zack Wheeler, who almost certainly is headed toward Tommy John surgery.
“I have zero issues whatsoever with how the Mets handled Zack last year or in the offseason,” Wheeler’s agent, B.B. Abbott, said Wednesday. “We sent his MRI to specialists and they all said the same thing: The UCL was not torn.”
The Mets have taken flak in recent days since the most recent MRI exam showed a full tear of the right ulnar collateral ligament, questioning why he was pushed so hard last season despite complaining of discomfort and why he was used normally this spring.
Abbott said previous MRI exams showed a bone spur, which Wheeler and the Mets hoped he could pitch through this season.
“Nobody who looked at that MRI expected a UCL tear to occur,” Abbott said. “Everyone said that by pitching with it, he would not make it worse. This tear is completely unrelated to what was shown on the other MRIs.”
Instead, Wheeler and the Mets expected the right-hander to be able to manage the pain again in 2015, and if it persisted throughout the season, perhaps to have arthroscopic surgery in the offseason.
“We probably would have addressed it when the year was over,” Abbott said. “That would have been a recovery time of about four months. The fact that we’re dealing with the ligament now has nothing to do with that.”
On Tuesday, Alderson said he had no regrets about how Wheeler was used.
“When a guy is being managed, you understand what the sort of apocalyptic result can be. OK? He blows something out,” Alderson said. “But the question is, ‘What’s the alternative?’ If it blows out, it blows out. The alternative is that you manage somebody to the point where he’s not useful to you. So it’s the proverbial, ‘You can’t hurt it anymore,’ or in the case of the ligament, it’s already implicated because of the tendinitis in the tendon.”
Wheeler visited team physician Dr. David Altchek on Wednesday to get confirmation of the diagnosis and still may talk to leading expert Dr. James Andrews about the injury.
Without Wheeler, the Mets are looking for a starter to fill his spot and the first in line is Dillon Gee, who will start on Thursday at Tradition Field against the Astros at 1:05 p.m. in a split-squad game. Jon Niese will take the mound in Jupiter against the Cardinals.
Tickets for the Aug. 21 Zac Brown Band concert at Citi Field will go on sale to the general public on Friday at 10:00 a.m. at Mets.com.