14
2012
Going, Going, Gone: David Wright Edition
An article by 
It hard to think that after the stunning exit from the 2006 NLCS, the consecutive collapses that followed, the mediocre baseball since, and the gut check that was the departure of Jose Reyes, that things could actually get worse for our beloved Mets. With the team poised to close out its worst campaign in at least four years, the organization isn’t exactly entering the offseason on a high note. Unfortunately, this winter includes another moment of truth for our favorite floundering franchise. That moment in question..The process in which they will try to find a way to retain the most tenured player on the roster, David Wright.
It doesn’t appear that signing Wright to a contract extension will be as easy as dollars and cents. Earlier this season, Wright went on record stating that the opportunity to win a championship going forward is likely more important than the value of his next deal. This is a unique issue for the team’s front office, which seems to be entrenched in financial difficulty. Retaining the home grown slugger appears to be tied as much to the players they place around him, as it is in his own net worth. None of this should seem like a stretch when considering that Wright is set to enter his thirties, having made only one career postseason appearance, in position to sign what may be the final contract of his career. So what happens next?
In his most recent video blog (HERE), ESPN’s Buster Olney becomes the most recent member of the major sports media to indicated that the Mets appear set for another basically dormant off season. Content to await the maturity of their pitching prospects or once again handcuffed by the checkbook of majority owner, Fred Wilpon, the consensus that this winter won’t include the renovations necessary to turn the team’s current roster into a likely contender should strike fear into the hearts of Mets fans hoping to see David Wright in blue and orange for the foreseeable future. Olney also hypothesizes that anything is possible should the team lay an enormous offer at the feet of their all-star third baseman, a scenario few Mets fans can envision citing the thrifty ways of Sandy Alderson’s front office.
Call me crazy, but tend I to take David Wright at his word. That’s exactly why the scenarios presented by Buster Olney, Adam Rubin and every other person “in the know” in recent weeks make me think we may be witnessing the final days of David Wright in Queens.
Even if everything else comes together. If the starting rotation takes shape without further delay, if the bullpen suddenly finds its way, and if the team can remain otherwise healthy, the Mets are no less than two quality starting outfielders away from fielding a contending ball club. Those are two pretty significant, expensive, moves for a front office which appears destine, by all accounts, to stay the course for yet another winter. If that’s the case, it leaves only money as a way of enticing Wright to stay with the team long term. This in and of itself presents a problem since Sandy Alderson seems intent on not overpaying at all costs. If money becomes the deciding factor, as it was with Jose Reyes, then surely Wright will find much larger fortunes elsewhere.
The other unfortunate portion of this equation is Wright’s resistance to in-season negotiations. This only heightens the importance of the impending offseason as it will be the franchise’s only opportunity to make this happen. If they are unable to come to terms, then the thought process of the front office will turn to when, not if, Wright should be traded away. With each game of the 2013 season his plays, Wright’s trade value decreases. Certainly the organization cannot afford to have him walk away without significant compensation, as Jose Reyes did. Its for that reason, and the fact that I simply don’t see the Mets putting enough talent around him this off season to convince him that the future in Queens, is sooner than later, that I now believe his time here is coming to a close.
Two years ago it was unthinkable that the left side of the team’s infield wasn’t set in stone for the next decade. Now it appears the rebuild could become even more complicated. Losing Wright would be more than a set back. His value on the field is trumped only by his worth off of it. The closest thing the Mets have to a pure bread superstar, David Wright’s time here is in jeopardy. In the interest of the fans, and the future, the Mets must find a way, but will they?
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About the Author: Rob Patterson
Ultimately, I owe nearly thirty years of Mets related torture to my mother, who is the reason I became a fan. I was too young to remember the 86 run, but hope to see one I'll be able to recall much sooner than later. I enjoy writing about the team and welcome your feedback on my posts. Oh..and I am not with 28!
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 28 | .600 | - |
| Nationals | 34 | 35 | .493 | 7.5 |
| Phillies | 34 | 37 | .479 | 8.5 |
| Mets | 25 | 40 | .385 | 14.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 47 | .319 | 19.5 |
Last updated: 06/18/2013
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Trade the guy, get as much as you can for him and rebuild as it is happening right now whether they wanna admit it or not. Trade him and dickey and see if the team you’re trading those 2 take jason bay’s contract as well. Get ready for 2014 and forward and pray y then we’d have a new GM ready to win and the owners ready to spend.
Alex. I don’t necessarily disagree with you but my questioon is if we can’t get a 3rd baseman do you think Jason Turner can handle the position as an everyday player?
I would think you could stop gap 3rd base and put Flores back over there to be the 3rd baseman for the future.
Yes but don’t you think Turner has the better bat?
Turner is ok. Maybe he would be that stop gap. May Murph could be. I’m not a big Turner fan, and he probably is best suited off the bench as a super sub (more so than Murph).
Lou, 2013 is already punted. Might as well get as many prospects as you can that can contribute in 2014 and beyond. No need to have Wright in the payroll when he’s hitting 17 HR and getting 18-19 Million a year. Trade him while his value is up Imho. And i think 3rd baseman can be had for cheap during the offseason. if we trade wright, more than 17 3rd Baseman this year have hit more than 15 Hr’s if the issue is production…
Exactly my opinion. We could get a couple of good outfielders/
Wright is definitely not worth 16M much less 20M for 5 or 6 years. that is super star money.
It will be odd seeing DW in another uni…but it’s almost like a fait accompli….
Mike. I’ve posted this before and don’t mean to sound like I am beating the drum for this but he is from Virginia Beach and would fit perfectly with the O’s and I think he would put the O’s over the top to compete with the Yanks and hook him up with Schowalter who could really get the most out of him. Now if the O’s want to pay the price that’s another story. Also in the AL when you want to give him a day off he can alwyas come in as a DH.
Lou, don’t they have that kid machado?? He’s playing well for them no? Ohh, wait no, he’s hitting 272 and has a 475 Slugging %, but his OBP is just awful at 282.. So no, never mind, i wouldn’t want him since his OBP is that bad.. the O’s are 20-11 since calling him up, but nope, wouldn’t wanna mess with our OBP mantra here in flushing…
And if they are 20-11 with him making peanuts, why would they want to trade for a guy leading a team that’s 4-22 making bazillions?
In the right lineup he will be better. Who fears the Mets’ lineup. A few games ago they walked Wright three times. Why give him anything to hit. Do you notice now he is swinging at more bad pitches. Why? How else will he get a ball to hit?
In the right lineup he will be better”
Ohhhh, You mean kinda like 2006-2008 lineups??? Where he was padding his stats like crazy? Got you!
Heybatter, but again, the kid has all the tools, all the talent, but his OBP is just awful.. The mets wouldn’t touch him with a 10 foot pole
I’ll preface this with “I don’t want to see David go”. But if re-signing him isn’t going to happen (be it the money, he wants to go else where, etc.), I could certainly see moving David for some prospects. If he brings back a Catcher, OF and another prospect or 2, then you can live with the drop in production at 3B.
I’m still not sure if Wright goes, that Dickey needs to go too. If you can get a C and an OF, you’ll have 16 mil to spend on other holes. For the production Dickey gives, he’s relatively cheap, even if he signs a 3 year 30 mil deal. Now, that said, Dickey, who may not win the Cy Young, but is certainly bound to be a finalist, may have the most trade value right now.
And that leaves you with Tejad being your only dangerour RH Bat….
Is that really a solution to our problems?
Yes. I certainly was planning on the Mets only trading Wright away for Lefthanded hitting OF, C and other prospects…
And who is going to give you two RH Power bats for one again?
Or is this just another case of Whack A Mole…
Trade one guy who fits for something else that MAY fit but actually leaves us no better than where we were only the position of need changing….
What in the heck are you raging on about? You obviously want to keep wright, because who else will be that RH power. I started off my post with “I’ll preface this with “I don’t want to see David go”.” Then I went on to say if he does have to go (won’t extend a contract, etc.) then you could trade him for some decent chips, prefereably a C and an OF (I shouldn’t even have to write that RH batters would be ideal). So if your point is “don’t trade Wright”, OK, I’m totally fine with that. But if they do need to move him, I think getting those chips would help down the line, for sure. Sooo…. What’s the problem with my above post, given the framework it is based on?
Agreed. As I said, I think they need to re-sign him but that is a two way street and if unable to reach an agreement by the winter meetings then they should pack his bags. The only problem is to me that sets us back at least 1-2 more years.
Well, it’s trade him and take a step back for a year, or he walks away, and you are stepping back 2-3 years.
And if he is traded, in addition to the prospects you would get, you could take his salary and funnel that towards a FA. You could get a Catcher and a CF, sign BJ and Kelly Johnson, slide Murph to 3B, and while not perfect in the least, you’ve spread the wealth around and filled multiple holes. And I just threw Johnson’s name in there for the example, but there is a way to get or start getting better overall, while getting worse at one position. I wouldn’t think that would push you back 3+ years at all. With the subsequent Bay/Santana $ coming off the books, the 2014 FA class is much more impressive than the 2013 class.
86 That depends on who they aquire for Wright and who they sign as free agents.
Well I agree Wright is probably gone after 2013….
But thats kind of what you should expect when you have a player who refuses to negotiate during the season and a GM who refuses to negotiate in the Offseason due to some fear of “Bidding Against Yourself”!
Unless they bump into each other as Wright is walking out the door the last day ofthe season and make a deal!
Metsie,
I thought there was a chance Wright would be back but after reading this article from a Padres blog from 2008 when Sandy took over. The spoke about the same thing Sandy is talking about now…..Rebuilding through the draft, cut down on spending etc etc the same garbage Sandy is giving us now he was giving it to Padres fans 4years ago.
http://thesacrificebunt.com/240/padres-101-rebuilding-through-the-draft/
Years later and the Padres still SUCK where are these great players they drafted?
WELCOME TO SANDYBALL!!!!!
At the winter meetings in December 2000, commenting on Mike Hampton’s $121 million contract and Rodriguez’s record $252 million deal, Alderson said: “In two days, we’ve doubled a new highest salary. I don’t like the exponentiality of that.” lol……
Leroy I totally agree while we can debate what Wright wants and hopes for the bottom line and the real problem is I don;t see Sandy signing a guy to a 16+ Mil contract for more than 3 years and thats not going to cut it at all!
Wright saying he wants to be here is true, He wants to finish his career here!
He wants to do what TRS pointed out Ripken did!
And that means a 5-7 year deal for at least as much as his salary for the buyout is. Maybe a early discount (which Sandy shouldn’t do) the first two years but in the end it is going to average out to 15-19 Mil over 5-7 years!
And I just don’t see Sandy ever signing that kind of deal!
Only way it happens is if he FRONT loads it and gets discounts in years 4-7 so he can more easily trade him and I doubt highly Wright would agree to that!
Excellent assessment on the David Wright situation. I couldn’t agree more that his days as a NY Met are numbered. David Wright has always been a stand-up guy both on and off the field throughout his career. Always a true class act, which is why we have to take him for his word that winning, and not money, will be his priority when signing a long term deal. I know there are not many players who have done this, but he certainly will not be the first to take less money to be where he wants to be.
OK….the way I see it playing out this off season: the Wilpons knowing full well the gravity of Wrights departure and the impact it will have on the already declining attendance, will put the ball in his court and offer him a very fair and lucrative contract as a PR move. Of course they know he will turn it down because there is no way this current Mets ballclub can be turned around fast enough to satisfy Wright’s desire to win. So even though these bafoons have been incapable of building a contending team all these years, now they make Wright look like the bad guy who doesn’t want to stay in NY.
The 2013 season now begins. Knowing the team still wont be turned around enough throughout next year’s campaign for Wright to stay, the Wilpons are faced with either trading him or keeping him and getting nothing for him. Once again knowing the negative impact of his departure, they will choose the same route they chose with Jose Reyes, opting to get nothing, and keep him for the remainder of the season. This again, of course is a total PR move by the Wilpons because at the end of the season when Wright officially declares free agency, they will once again throw a mega deal at Wright’s feet, which he will probably turn down because the Mets will have just completed yet another sub .500 season in 2013. So, to the average fan who really doesn’t no jack, its going to look like Wright is the bad guy. A perfect public relations plan to save face for their years of failure. Me as a die hard Mets fan since the team’s inception into the league, and a David Wright fan (the greatest home-bred position player in the team’s 50 year history), I wish him well. My guess is he goes to the Atlanta Braves.
I don’t see the next year portion of your scenario.
My guess is that they make the solid offer as you describe, but if he refuses to sign (and wants to play out to FA) then they will shop him hard, and likely get a good enough offer to not be able to turn it down. then we all move on.
You never know. He may not sign, and they end up rolling with the trade line deadline thing. I wouldn’t want to take that risk. I’d resign him early or look to trade him after that.
I doubt they want to roll the dice as a lame duck, hoping to hit the jackpot at the deadline. Only way he does not get traded (if they can’t sign him) is if they are seriously underwhelmed by offers.
keep in mind, traded off season means the team that gets him can get picks if he walks.
Oh, we’ll agreed. The maximized return for Wright is a full season of him. Just saying that if Sandy turned Wright into another Wheeler, would we be upset?
If its just Wheeler? Yeah actually. I want two top prospects IF he has to be traded and that means you got to make your decision by the winter meetings.
Yeah, I would hope you get more , but if you just got a wheeler type (ideally a position player) but if you roll with a half year of wright and get back the said wheeler typ, I think you all would be happy. Again, his Trade value is best this offseason, so you probably get another couple pieces to that trade. But considering you can’t get compensation for Wright, the trade might be very much like Beltrans for Wheeler, basis mid season trade.
But they cangetcompensation if he traded in offseason which is another reason I think they do it this offseason if they don’t lock him up. That value will be cut in 1/3.
Yeah. That’s what I’m saying as well, just more susinctly put by you.
I think no deal by winter meetings…
Rockies have always been hot on Wright. If the Mets do decide to go the trade route, I’d be interested to see if the Rockies would part w Rollie power hitting catcher, Wilin Rosario. Rockies also have a legit 3B prospect, Nolan Arenado. Just a thought…
Maybe that ship sailed already since Wilin Rosario exploded this year.. Nolan might be a good addition but we have WILMER FLORES in the wing so. don’t see that happening..
Here’s my question, why do we give more credence to one comment but not another. Along with playing for a winner he said he loved Cal Ripken and wanted to stay with the Mets for his entire career. Why can’t we take both comments with a grain of salt and realize that he is a normal player who is going to stay politically correct through all of this?
Your Right, we should ignore all statements from a player and make up whatever we want as a reality!
Nope we should realize that it is a negotiation process and anything said right now should be taken with a grain of salt understanding the situation. He is not going to box himself in one way or the other.
If he was really worried about boxing himself in he wouldn’t say anything at all other than maybe “We will see what transpires when the offseason comes!”
Not anything about winning being as important if not more important than Money!
And he wouldn’t have mentioned the great desire to stay and Cal Ripken either. Again, I know we have no stories right now but I think we are reading too much into comments made during a negotiations process.
Again, my original question was why do we focus on one part of his response and not the other?
Because one wa said recently and the other hasn’t really been said since Sandy gave up in July!
Thats WHEN the Winning is important to signing was said by BOTH Wright and Dickey!
And Dickey has been very vocal about our GM giving up on the team two years in a row!
Neither are about Money…Neither actually WANT to leave…
But neither want to finish their career and waste whats left on a team that the GM isn’t trying to make a winner in the next few years!
Thier fear is they will simply be resigned for PR purposes and traded off to a team they may not like, may not be good, but was willing to offer the most rebuild materials Sandy covets instead of winning players!
SO far everyone who has been an all-star as a Met has been sent off!
You don’t see how a player could be reluctant to sign with a team who does that and while they like it here would rather have the final say on where they play if the end result is to be forced to leave the team via trade a year from now anyway?
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/09/05/david-wright-extremely-optimistic-about-long-term-deal-with-mets/
So actually most recently he has said that winning is important as is staying.
Thats great Wright wants to stay…
Next Questionwhat has Sandy said about signing him long term to a 16+ Mil per contract for multiples years such as 5-7 years?
Cause the real issue was never much to do with Wright’s desire but Sandy’s penchant for not paying to keep his stars!
Different question. This was about what Wright said and why we were giving more credence to one comment over another. You said because he said be more recently and had not said the other since the ASB. You were wrong.
Hi TRS,
If we should be cautious about statements made by players, we should be even more skeptical regarding statements made by the general manager because so many times his own words have come back to haunt him and he can only spin his legal double talk up to a point until the reality of his actions come forward.
You mean we shouldn’t take a GM for his word? Really? Shocking. That Sandy, always doing things unprecedented for GMs…
Of course I take anything a GM says with a grain of salt, who wouldn’t?
I know if there were thumbs down here I would get plenty: Here it goes;
David Wright is the face of a losing franchise. That is fact.
DW is basically not clutch. That may be debatable but to me it is a fact.
When you rebuild (that is what we are doing) you insert a new cornerstone in the structure.
David Wright will be way past his prime with a long term contractt which will hamper and not help this team. The earliest for contention looks like 2016 at best.
No reason to thumb you down for thinking that…
But what people seem to do is say this guy isn’t great so get rid of him thinking that getting someone great is as easy as breathing and forget that having a GREAT guy or CLUTCH guy is not going to work unless you have those Wrights playing alongside him!
No Wright isn’t a guy who can carry a team! But if you DO happen to find a guy who CAN carry a team IS as clutch as you want he is going to need a guy like Wright to create those clutch situations and help him be enough to win ballgames!
If finding a guy who is clutch and great is easy then get one to replace Bay and KEEP Wright to add to whatever that guy is going to do!
But to just say your best player isn’t good enough and get rid of him hoping you find someone better when you have a whole team worth of NOT BETTER guys to replace instead is just not smart!
Wright isn’t the but clutch hitter like Hernandez was.
Wright isn’t the guy you say is a great enough to be a sure thing HOFer
And Wright may be the face of the franchise but only because he’s the best guy in a sea of a lot of sorry faces.
Keep him and get the guy your looking for toreplace one of the scrubs and then you got something that can win!
Metsie. Thanks for your reply. I think the best deal we can get from DW is 5/100M. I do not know if you agree with me that it now looks like 2016 is the earliest with DW that we could contend. For this franchise 20 M per year is enormous. If spent on international draft assuming for we follow slot guidlines on amateur draft we could help build new cornerstones for a ten year plethora of players on the farm to be developed or traded. After the extention option is exercised DW should be traded to fill holes which we know are catcher and OF. Where are we going to get the impact player Wright needs to be an effective complimentry player? Not from FA market.
Well 2016 is a date but only if you plan on signing Wright and just waiting for kids to get come up and fill the other holes around him. but thats not really the smart play cause your just sitting around and waiting for a Maybe not even a sure thing!
This team has Pitching and young pitching about to come up. We have an overabundance of LH Hitters Two of which have great power.
What is missing is a power RH bat to complement Wright.
Get that and you could even be competitive next year.
Thats Assuming Ike hits like he has since June.
We have been losing all these games lately by 3-1 2-0 2-1 that is an easy fix with a bat that scares someone other than Wright.
ANd then if those kids we were waiting for in 2016 do arrive, You can still trade Wright if you have a kid thats better, Or trade the RH power bat that kid can replace, or (the best scenario) replace some of those other kids who are not as good as Wright and really have a good team!
It doesn’t have to take 4 years to get this team into a playoff picture.
If the kids who should be ready before 2016 aren’t good enough to replace who we have or make us winners then those are the kids we should be trading to get someone who does so when 2016 rolls around there are Vets who make it easier for those kids to make us winners without having to all put up ROY numbers.
If we really wanted to take the slow road and rebuil then they should have had thier firesale last year and traded Wright then!
Then the kids you would have gotten wouldn’t take 4 years to improve us.
Metsie: I agree; Firesale is really trade Reyes and Wright. If we did that we could have been competive by the original expectation of 2014. I have said infinitum that the Rox were eager for Wright and offered Pomerantz, Wil Rosario and Wiggie. We would have filled the righty bat and a young catcher hitting over 20 hrs (more than Wright) plus we do have viable options to compete for 3B. We also would have had Pomerantz. This woulf given us manySP to choice to build a long term young rotation and the others could have been traded for young position players of the same caliber. We held on toWright too long. The Rox offer was even after DW’s back injury and down year. Reyes was in a batting title race and PR did not allow a trade so the Mets just got watered down draft picks for him. They were afraid to trade Wright after losing Reyes. With the claw back Madoff trustee lawsuit the Mets in the rebuilding mode (admit it or not) could have cut payroll even more PLUS improve the team to make 2014 the target date of being competive.. No foresight and no plan other than cut payroll and no other objective is the reason we are pushed back to 2016 and appease fans with Wright whose ship has passed here with the Mets. By that I mean DW is no longer an asset to improve to the point of being competive before 2016.
You are a fantastic writer Robert and you make some great points. I’ve finally resigned myself to the fact that David Wright wont be coming back. It’s more a knock on Wilpon than it is on Alderson.
Not necessarily Seligman,
Alderson has more to do with this than you think, the main gripe of Padres fans when Alderson joined the Padres was he let all of the fan favorites leave via free agency so he could acquire draft picks for them to REBUILD THE FARM. Similar to what he did with Jose Reyes.
Below is a article from a Padres blog from 2008 that spoke about changes Sandy made when he arrived
http://thesacrificebunt.com/240/padres-101-rebuilding-through-the-draft/
We’re gonna end up with no David Wright, and our “consolation prize” will be Nick Swisher. And then I will vomit.
Nick may not be right but David is a swisher.
It’s impossible to feel optimistic that the Mets will find a way to keep Wright after this truly ugly season. Terry Collins yesterday gave it away yesterday when he said, “We set the bar pretty high in April and May for a club that wasn’t supposed to be very good….” Wow! that says it all. Management gave up on this team from the beginning, and after a good first half, instead of showing some imagination and leadership, they simply gave up on the second half and made no effort to try to take advantage of the good first half to compete for a wild card, which was clearly doable. Note that the Phillies and the Brewers, despite lousy first halves way behind the Mets, didn’t give up and are now competing for the wild card. This whole season is a slap in the face to Mets fans, made even worse by Collins inability to get them to win at home. A truly sad, sad depressing season that gives this long-time Mets fan nothing to hope for in the future.
Good for the Phillies and Brews but how can you say they didn’t give up? Trading away what they did when they did?
Which leading RBI guy did the Phillies trade away this year?
They got rid of thier adequate guys but guys who were hardly the reason for thier success!
So are you saying you think the Phillies weren’t selling because they thought they were out of it? That if they had know they would turn it around they would have still traded Pence and Vicki? No way.
Yes I’m saying that!
Those guys might have been purged even if they wewre leading the Division because those gy=uys are not what makes that team go and they proved it with thier dismal performance until Utley and Howard got back and they started winning again!
At the time of the trades Pence was the team leader in HR’s and RBI’s and Victorino was a big part of their success winning 5 Diivision titles in a row. And they gave away their number 4 starter. They gave up as much as we did last year.
But he wasn’t thier best overall! Just best at the time because thier BIG bat was hurt and was about to come back!
As for Victorino he was not what made that team go it was Howard Utley and Rollins.
And they didn’t get rid of thier closer did they?
Make a mountain out of the Victorino molehill if thats all you have…
Point is thier GM didn’t go on TV or in front of the Media and say his team wasn’t good enough to compete!
What you think was a selloff was nothing more than a purge of guys who couldn’t do squat without Howard and Utley driving them in!
If they could get somebody to pickup Howard and Utleys contracts they would’ve dumped them too. Victorino was huge for them every year they won the division. he was a major piece of their nucleous. He was their leadoff hitter and GG CFer. They also traded their 2 best prospects to get Pence. They threw in the towel at 14 games under 500. Howard and Utley haven’t done a whole lot during their resurgence either. They had no idea some catcher named Eric Kratz would come up and hit like Johnny Bench after Ruiz went down and had no idea Mayberry jr would go nuts after the trades. Their guys didn’t quit on their manager they played better. They have heart. Our guys don’t. They’re soft.
Define Huge because obviously your definition of Huge is akin to a .270 or .280 Hitter!
Hell tejada must be Hall bound if thats Huge!
Since 2008 he’s been better than Rollins. Let me know when Tejada averages 30 2B’s 10 3B’s 14 HR’s 30 SB’s and 93 runs and wins 3 GG’s. If he does he’ll be another Jose Reyes only with an intelligence for the game.
well, a couple points to this.
the comment about not supposed to be very good was in response to media, etc. types that were predicting that. Nothing to do with what the team internally thought.
and you want to use the brewers and phils, 2 teams that traded away their good or top players that were pending free agents? That is the definition of giving up or punting.
and Sandy did not give up (trading dickey, that would have qualified!) no, they did not manage to find a deal that made sense to bring in new guys, so they called up some reinforcements, and basically said you guys got us here, if you are actually good, take us home. If anything, not trading off parts was a vote of confidence, not “giving up on the team”
Always two sides of the coin but. Some here have a trick coin.
Agreed stick. I mean the Phils traded Hunter Pence, Shane Victorino and Joe Blanton for 2 High A, 2 AA, OF/Nate Schierholtz and RP/Josh Lindblom. Shierholz and Lindblom are not the reason for the Phils turnaround from what I see. Heck Pence was their HR/RBI Team leader and was not going to be a free agent at the end of the season and they traded him.
The Phils as long as they had the 3 pitchers they had would always be dangerous this year and next. The pitching specifically the starters have been among the tops in the NL these last 2 months the pen this month has the best pen era in the NL which coincidentally has also pitched the least amount of innings probably due to how well the starters have pitched.
Then you have the Brewers who only traded away Zack Greinke for 2 AA players and SS/Jean Segura. Again Segura from what I can tell is not the reason for their turnaround either. I find it hard to believe that they traded Greinke away because that gave them a better chance to win in 2012. That is just me though cause I just don’t recall reading that Brewer fans were excited about their chances this season because he was traded away.
If everything falls into place next season we are still two quality outfielders from being a contender.
Those outfielders being in San Francisco and St. Louis?
And get this – even the sabers are acknowledging that Jose Reyes has more than paid back to the Marlins the investment for his contribution!
This is not what I am saying – this is the analytical conclusion rom those who brought you Sandy Alderson, saber metrics and money ball. To be honest, I don’t even understand half of it but it was explained to me by somebody I know.
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=1736&position=SS#value
We had those 2 guys in our outfield and we haven’t had a year above 500 since 2008 and even with Jose and K-Rod that team never once finished above 500 as a group.
Hi Fonzie,
They were doing their job for the Mets in 2011 and are having fine seasons again this year – including KRod who had that bad stretch of four games in which you were quick to correctly point out but also has not allowed an earned run in 15 of his last 19 appearances – which you have not been so quick to point out.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.cgi?id=rodrifr03&t=p&year=2012
He still has a near 5 ERA and has blown all of his last 3 save chances. He’s now pitching in the 7th and 8th inning rarely in a close game. 7 blown saves and 7 losses with a 5 ERA and you want that guy back? At 17.5 million no less. Beltran I loved and hated to see him go and he did do his job last year but he had 2 months to go on a team going nowhere and we got back one of the top RH pitching prospects in the game. Under the same circumstances I make that trade 100% of the time. And in case you haven’t noticed he’s playing witth a bad back and 2 sore knees and has had a terribe 2nd half. He has 13 hits and 1 HR in the last month. He’s hitting 200 since the Allstar break with 9 HR’s but only 1 of them in over a month. He would’ve fit right in with our 2nd half collapse. And Pagan was not doing his job in 2011, if he had he’d still be here. He had a 694 OPS and played the worst CF in the NL. He’s had a good May and an incredible August sandwiched around below avg months the rest of the year. Like I said we had all of those guys on the same team and haven’t had a wining season in 4 years. He dismantled a losing team. You gotta stop harping on that, he didn’t break up a 90 win team he broke up a 79 and 77 win team. Notice the Phillies threw in the towel trading away their RF, CF and number 4 starter but their players didn’t bitch or moan they fought and played better and went from 14 games under 500 to a game over 500. It’s a lack of talent that seperates us and a lack of heart and mental toughness.
At that was thier fault HOW again?
This is what gets me about you guys….
If you couldn’t win with those guys then why not get rid of the scrubs who did not perform that surrounded the guys that DID!
I’m so upset with the current situation of the state of the new york mets why? Cus the wilpons are killing our team, I just don’t get them. When they didn’t sign jose reyes, they said we now have all this money to spend, they after the season started we can’t spend money, now it’s the allstar break now we do have some money to spend. Well what’s the case then, cus when the season is over, the mets brass must keep the face of the mets and that is david wright, i hope the mets do the right thing by keeping him. I don’t care how the mets do it, they need to turn things around fast, i mean fastor they will lose fans coming to the games. The mets now should be back in timel like 1962 to 1968, or 1977 till 1983, 1989 to 1996, what about 2001 ill 2006 where the mets really killed themseleves that year, well that trade to the pirates when the mets send nady to the bucs for to over the hill pitches who didn’t help us at all down the line.2007 till now, i mean you look at the years in bewteen since 1980 since that time the wilpons have been the owners. How many times have we made it to the world series 1986,2000, championship seasons 1986, 1988,1999,2000, 2006. You tell me now that the wilpons have done great for our city, compare to the championships the yankees had since 1980 till now. Do you get it now. It’s important to put the right product on that field,, players who want to play, players who want to win. The wilpons don’t do this time after time after every season. They want our money to make them rich, but what are getting back in return where’s our world series, wright is one piece so don’t do the same damn mistakes you guys always do, but do us a favor and sell our team so that we can finally win.
Baseball needs to be a passion. The Wilpons are only passionate about the next financial swindle they can pull off. That is why the Mets trot out AA and AAA players on a regular basis. Get rich quick schemes don’t work. That’s why the Mets are embarrassments.
As for David Wright, maybe he’ll wind up on the Phillies at some point. I don’t like that team, but they don’t pack it in like the Mets do. How you can go from so far out of contention to 3 games out in the span of 3 weeks blows my mind. Maybe that will be good environment for Wright. They show grit, they win. He’s earned it. And then he can continually stick it to the Wilpons for permanently ruining the Mets. Extra bonus for him. As for us, there’s always the Cyclones. Those games are great. You can see minor league Mets in minor league surroundings, the way it was meant to be.
I can’t think of an environment that won’t be better for Wright than the one he’s in right here.