If you’re Mets right-hander Zack Wheeler, which would be the better outcome — a trade that would enable you to enter free agency without draft-pick compensation or a contract extension that would enable you to avoid the market entirely?



Wheeler, 29, soon might have a say in the matter.



As I reported Thursday on Twitter, the Mets are exploring signing Wheeler and trading right-hander Noah Syndergaard, according to major-league sources. The pair of moves would enable the Mets to fulfill their mission of trying to contend in 2020 and beyond. Not only would they benefit from the package they received for Syndergaard, but they also would keep Wheeler, who otherwise would be likely to depart as a free agent at the end of the season.



An escape from New York might be preferable for most Mets players, considering the team is headed for its ninth losing season in the past 11 years. But what if the Mets offered Wheeler say, a four-year deal in the $70...