It was all but guaranteed that the New York Mets would offer Zack Wheeler the qualifying offer before free agency starts. Ironically, the man who he was traded for, Carlos Beltran, ran the Mets news cycle for the day. Wheeler is going to be offered the one-year, $17.8 million deal prior to Monday’s 5 p.m. deadline.
A bit of baseball kismet: The Mets traded Carlos Beltran for Zack Wheeler in July 2011.
Yesterday, Wheeler officially became a free agent.
Today, the Mets decided on Beltran to be their next manager.