It's always nice when you can trade away a fading veteran for a team's top prospect, and that's what the Mets did in acquiring Zack Wheeler from the Giants as the best move in their sudden fire sale rebuilding plan.

A flame-throwing righthander from Georgia, Wheeler mixes his 96mph fastball with a curve ball that's already a plus pitch. He's working now on adding a changeup, and if he can make it even a league-average offering, he can be a middle-rotation starter anywhere, anytime. Even without one, his fastball-curve combination is good enough for a major league bullpen today. He'll need some seasoning, of course, and most scouts would prefer to see that his pitcher-perfect body can hold up under a full season's workload before signing his ticket to Flushing. While he could pitch the Bigs right now, the Mets could benefit from showing a little patience: they won't be contenders in 2012 anyway, so it's probably better to bring an even-better Wheeler to the majors in 2013.