Report: Mets' Wheeler pitched with torn elbow tendon last year

Zack Wheeler reportedly pitched through more than just pain last season.

A source tells Newsday's Marc Carig that prior to suffering the torn UCL revealed earlier this week, Wheeler had a slight tendon tear in his ailing right elbow that doctors tried to treat twice this offseason with platelet-rich plasma therapy. 

The New York Mets admitted Wheeler pitched through bouts of inflammation and elbow tendinitis last season, but insisted he did so at no additional risk to his health. Newsday's source supports that claim, saying doctors assured the team that the tendon tear wouldn't result in a more significant injury and that Wheeler's ability to pitch would come down to his tolerance of pain.

Wheeler, who threw a career-high 185 1/3 innings with a team-leading 187 strikeouts last year, is expected to undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery after a doctor confirmed Wednesday a complete tear of his UCL. Tests also showed additional tearing of his elbow tendon, according to Newsday.

General manager Sandy Alderson, who has taken heat this week for the club's handling of the 24-year-old right-hander, fired back at critics Tuesday who suggested the team put the young pitcher in harm's way by not shutting him down last season.

"Let me just ask, why would we treat somebody like (staff ace Matt) Harvey with the kind of caution that we did and then throw somebody else under the bus – somebody of essentially equal value to us as an organization?" Alderson asked reporters this week in Florida. "That wouldn't make any sense. I understand people can debate the number of pitches and the number of innings and this and that. We simply wouldn't treat two guys that differently."