David Wright: Why he should go...

Photo by Mack Ade

I'm sure we all can agree that the David Wright that we all watched and became enamored with back in 2004 is not the David Wright that plays for the Mets now. He has gone through a series of changes since his rise to stardom, and unfortunately he was a much better player in his first half a season in the big leagues, then he is right now. I know that might not be the most popular thing to say, but that's just my opinion.

This isn't a "beat up David" post because I sure love having him on the roster. David Wright is a gamer, the Mets' version of "Derek Jeter", who wants to be in that lineup no matter what. He's missed some time the past few seasons, but you can't blame him for being nailed in the noggin by Matt Cain, or breaking his back diving into Carlos Lee. If anything, that tells you the type of player he is right there; David played close to a month with a broken bone in his back after his sumo wrestling match with Lee and then got the X-Ray after finally realizing that his injury wasn't healing as fast as he thought it would. I could think of a bunch of Mets' players over the past few seasons that would have been begging for a X-Ray as soon as they got in the duggout. We've all seen these types of players, the ones that seemingly missed time if they got chapped lips. That's not David, it took a broken back and a month of playing with it before he finally got tested; like I said, a gamer.

However, since after the 2008 season, his numbers haven't been up to the standard that we've all grown accustomed to. I know that the first thing most people will point to for the reason in their decline would be Citifield, but I wouldn't put too much stock into that theory. I've watched to many fastballs thrown right down the pipe beat David on a consistent basis, and that has nothing to do with the "Great wall of Flushing". Somewhere along the line, David stopped attacking the baseball. Long gone are the opposite field home runs he seemed to bash just like Mike Piazza did during his reign as the face of the New York Mets. I find it highly more likely that David's decreasing numbers have a lot more to do with the fact that he no longer has sluggers surrounding him in the lineup like he did in 2006 through 2008. Which means a lot more breaking pitches and off-speed stuff, which I believe has contributed to him not being able to hit the fastball.

Back then, David wasn't called upon to be the lone run producer like he has been since Citifield's inception. You are much more likely to see better pitches to hit when you have a healthy Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado in the lineup with you. Aside from the first half of last year when Beltran was operating on all cylinders, David has had relatively no backup in leading the charge with the offense in the middle of the order. Ike was great during his rookie season, but he sure wasn't someone that pitchers feared facing other then David. Bay's offense has been like the dinosaurs, extinct. Jose had been hurt constantly, but even when healthy and on the base paths, that only contributed to Wright seeing even less decent pitches to hit.

After 2009, when David's home run total failed to reach eleven, a number he usually reached in June, David started swinging for the fences a little more and was able to reach twenty-nine, but his batting average suffered mightily. Last year was another catastrophe because of many reasons. There was his back injury, losing Ike Davis to injury , losing Bay to his never ending offensive slump, and then losing Beltran via trade. Not only were his stats below average for a major league third baseman, but his defense was an even bigger liability. He looked like a clown juggling baseballs while manning the hot corner, and it got worse as the year went on. He turned in the worst offensive year in his entire career.

My point in all of this is that I don't think any of us should expect David's numbers to ever revert back to what he was producing four years ago. I honestly don't think that bringing in the fences is going to have an effect on his statistics whatsoever. If anything, I would predict that his numbers will fall somewhere in between what he produced in the first two seasons while playing at Citifield. I say this, because gone are the legitimate sluggers David used to be sandwiched in between, gone is his old way of attacking the baseball driving it to all fields, gone is his ability to turn on a fastball with any regularity, and then add the pressure of finally producing the numbers he used to because the team has brought the fences in specifically for him, and what your left with is the same player we've been watching the past three years. He's become a breaking ball hitter, a mistake hitter. Those are the balls he drives nowadays and the league has caught on. I've watched too many fastballs thrown right by him, his bat trailing too far behind.

The best way David could help this team in the future, is by putting out a solid first half and raising his trade value. Hopefully, Ike Davis is healthy and plays all year. Ike showed that he is going to be a force for years to come and having that protection behind David will help. I don't believe anyone should expect Jason Bay to become the "Old Jason" just because the field has become more hitter friendly. If there is anything to the notion of needing a "change in scenery", then Bay is the perfect canidate for that. Unfortunately his contract is like an anchor on a carnival cruise ship right now, which means that ship ain't going no where. I'm not even going to mention how Duda could help in protecting David because even though Duda has the talent, hes yet to establish himself as a force and can't be counted on.

The real problem here is that the player this team needs most, is a free agent right now and probably will be signing elsewhere. With the help this team is going to receive next year through their minor leagues, Jose Reyes is the talent that the Mets need in years to come, not David. If I thought for a second that David might be the player he was four years ago, I'd have a different take on this, but I just don't see that happening because it's been far too long since he's produced numbers on the high level that he used to. If I were Sandy Alderson, I'd make sure Reyes was wearing one of the new uniforms that the team has been pushing recently and start making plans to trade Wright, hopefully obtaining at least one highly rated prospect that could step into the role of third baseman in the near future. I would hold onto Daniel Murphy for the foreseeable future to step into the role as third baseman, knowing that the production from that position wouldn't diminish all that much, if any.

Actually, just hearing that Sandy continues to hold out hope of resigning Jose, makes me believe that he feels the same way. I really hope that the Mets, despite all of the financial issues, are smart enough to realize that any rebuilding process currently underway, would be pushed along at a much quicker pace by having their homegrown star of a shortstop manning that position. David, in my unfortunate opinion, should be collateral damage in the process of making this team competitive for years to come simply because he's become more expendable than Jose.