Fansided

Top 25 MLB free agents for 2019

By Joshua Sadlock

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 15: Gerrit Cole #45 of the Houston Astros celebrates retiring the side during the sixth inning against the New York Yankees in game three of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium on October 15, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 15: Gerrit Cole #45 of the Houston Astros celebrates retiring the side during the sixth inning against the New York Yankees in game three of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium on October 15, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 15: Pitcher Zack Wheeler #45 of the New York Mets in action against the Los Angeles Dodgers during of a game at Citi Field on September 15, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 15: Pitcher Zack Wheeler #45 of the New York Mets in action against the Los Angeles Dodgers during of a game at Citi Field on September 15, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

10. Zack Wheeler

If there’s one candidate to accept his qualifying offer, it is New York Mets right-hander Zack Wheeler. The 29-year-old enters free agency on the heels of his best two seasons in the big leagues but there are big questions about his ability to stay healthy and off the Injured List. Wheeler lost two entire seasons out of his seven before free agency and logged only 86.1 innings in 2017.

Wheeler has put together back-to-back 180-inning seasons for the Mets and showed signs of being the pitcher who arrived in the big leagues to great hype. He has gone 23-15 with a 3.65 ERA and 8.9 strikeouts per nine in 60 starts the last two years. Wheeler has flashed all the tools that had many tabbing him as the future cornerstone of the Mets rotation — great command, strikeout stuff and an ability to limit the longball.

Trying to convince teams he is fully healthy and a safe bet on a long-term contract could be a tough sell for Wheeler and his agent. He missed the entire 2015 and 2016 seasons with Tommy John surgery and lingering elbow issues and was shut down in July of 2017 with a stress reaction in his throwing arm.

Through all of the ups and downs with injury, Wheeler’s raw stuff has hardly taken a hit. He still runs his fastball into the upper 90s and backs it up with a power slider and curveball. Wheeler’s secondary offerings stack up nicely against any of the top arms in the league. Will a team be willing to bet on his ability to stay healthy, give up a draft pick and offer a long-term deal?

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