Zack Wheeler doesn't want to see Noah Syndergaard traded
You’ve seen stories about the Mets possibly trading Noah Syndergaard and also possibly trading for former Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano. You’re not the only one.
Mets players have seen them, too.
“It’s hard not to see it,” second baseman Jeff McNeil said Wednesday at a charity event in Queens.
And while the Cano scenario seems unlikely, new general manager Brodie Van Wagenen has to listen if a team wants to bowl him over with an offer for the talented Syndergaard.
Doesn’t he?
“I’d rather have him on the team,” Zack Wheeler, Syndergaard’s rotation mate, said at the same event. “He’s a power guy and is part of this staff and I think we can do a lot of good things with him on the mound. He’s an intimidating guy out there, and I think the rest of the league knows that.”
After shopping with kids at a superstore in Elmhurst, Wheeler mused about the gift that was supposed to keep giving to Mets fans in 2018: a super rotation including him, Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, Steven Matz and Matt Harvey.
Well, deGrom won the NL Cy Young Award, Wheeler had a superb bounce-back season and Matz and Syndergaard showed flashes. (Harvey didn’t work out so well and was traded to the Reds.)
But the Mets still finished 77-85. So while it’s tempting to think about keeping the band together, Van Wagenen is said to be open to anything, including a Syndergaard trade.
Dealing Syndergaard for prospects or major league- ready position players would allow the Mets to restock multiple positions. They then could vie for one of the many free-agent pitchers available, such as J.A. Happ or Nathan Eovaldi.
Wheeler was a possibility to be traded at midseason under the previous regime, but he appears to be safe after going 12-7 with a 3.31 ERA in 29 starts.
“I want to win here in New York,” Wheeler said. “I just want to pitch in a playoff game, pitch in a meaningful game late in the season, and I think we have the squad to do that.”
As for McNeil, Van Wagenen said after his hiring that he has the 26-year-old as the Opening Day second baseman, but only in pencil.
“When I heard that, it was great,” McNeil said. “That doesn’t change what I’m going to do in the offseason. I’m still going to come in prepared to be the second baseman, come in prepared to try to play well.”
McNeil knows pencils have erasers, which is why the Cano speculation can’t be ignored.
“I try not to think too much about it and just kind of go about my business and do the same thing I always do,” said McNeil, who hit .329 in 225 at-bats as a rookie in 2018. “I’m just doing what I can in the offseason. I’m going to come in preparing to be the everyday second baseman right now.”
Cano, 36, has five years and $120 million left on his contract — a 10-year, $240-million deal that Van Wagenen negotiated in his previous life as an agent.
The Mariners are desperate to unload Cano, who was suspended for 80 games last season for using performance-enhancing drugs, and have tried to pitch him to the Mets and Yankees, among others.
Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.
