Atlanta Braves are scouting Mets starter Zack Wheeler

Interested?

Andy Martino of SNY TV reports that the Yankees have Wheeler on their “short list” of pitchers they’d like to acquire this July.  This list includes Marcus Stroman and Trevor Bauer as well.

He went on to suggest that the Mets would be okay in dealing with the Yankees, something that’s been a more taboo practice in the past.

Martino also noted that other clubs – including the Brewers and Braves – had scouts in attendance to watch Wheeler pitch during his July 2nd start against the Yankees.

That’s presumably not just the regular advance pro scouting you’d normally expect since the Mets are frequent foes, but the implication is that these scouts were looking specifically at Wheeler.

This may be due diligence work, but it’s probably more meaningful than that given (a) the time of year we’re at, and (b) that the Braves are keeping all options open.

Martino’s full report can be heard here:

The Price

Here’s the rub.  Wheeler is a rental, and despite the hometown connection, the Braves don’t really want to give up much for such a player.

All you have to do is search “yankees” and “wheeler” on twitter to recognize that both of these things are true:

• Yankee fans are drooling over the idea of getting Wheeler
• Met fans are drooling over the idea of getting Clint Frazier from the the Yankees.

The Yankees might indeed end up with Wheeler… but the Mets won’t be getting Frazier in the process.  Nor will they get Cristian Pache from Atlanta or Corey Ray from Milwaukee or any other top prospect from anyone else.

Regarding that, read into this next report what you will… if this is accurate, the Braves aren’t even willing to go with that secondary tier for Wheeler (Kolby Allard is ranked #10 by MLBPipeline, for what that’s worth).

Those facts will probably delay the process as the Mets desperately hope somebody ‘blinks’, but it just won’t happen.

The only question, really, will be about what team will offer enough of a secondary prospect to get the Mets to budge… and they will have to do that:  before July 31.

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How Needy will the Braves Be?

As Atlanta works through the progress of monitoring their rehabbing pitchers, it is likely that they will want to wait as long as possible before doing any kind of deal.  It does remain possible that they will need no starting pitcher by the end of July.

When it comes to Wheeler specifically, Atlanta may decide that if they want to pursue him, that they need not necessarily act now:  an off-season contract offer could be made if they really want him for the long term.

At the same time, he’s probably one of the cheapest-to-acquire-via-trade starters that might be out there in July… and if the need is truly there, they will need to act in some fashion.

…which is exactly why we’re checking out these pitchers and the potential for a fit with Atlanta.