John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: It's not like this was a guy who ever had it all together before a serious injury, surgery and a poor recovery from surgery. What is anyone expecting? Dude had a 3.50 ERA in 49 starts with 8.5 K/9. I would at worst label his pre-injury career as "average" and there was certainly room for him to grow, but I don't remember thinking he was below expectations based on his youth and experience. The fortune we have had with deGrom/Syndergaard/Harvey/Matz all being really good (better than Wheeler) very early in their careers may have altered the expectations, though. If he was being counted on the the ace or even the number two, I would agree that he was definitely not that guy yet pre-injury, but I'd be thrilled to have those stats from a fifth starter. I do think having missed two years makes it less likely that he will reach the ceiling we all thought he had back in 2013-14, but I haven't given up on him being valuable yet.