21
2012
Signing Wright To An Extension: How Long Is Too Long?
An article by 
Last week, in a poll on MetsBlog.com, 67 percent of voters said the Mets should try to sign Wright to a six- or seven-year contract extension this winter; while 12 percent said the team should blow him away with an eight-or nine-year deal.
Wow, I must be losing it… It just seems that lately my opinion is always out of line with the mainstream Mets fans…
Six to seven? Eight to nine? For David Wright who will be 31 at the end of his 2013 option year?
Has the universe gone mad?
I can’t believe that almost 80% of MetsBlog readers believe that the Mets should give Wright a minimum of a six-year deal, with some willing to go as long as nine years… It’s mind-boggling…
In my opinion, this would make the Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana and Jason Bay deals look like the blue-light specials at K-Mart.
Three weeks ago, I posed this question to our staff:
If Mets dont come to an agreement with Wright this Winter…
Should they trade him before the season starts?
Robert Patterson – Unless they receive major star power in return the team can’t afford to jettison Wright until the 2013 trade deadline. Doing so will result in an even steeper box office decline.
Clare Lafferty – I sure hope it doesn’t come to that, but I don’t think the Mets should trade Wright. The fans deserve to see Wright play and hopefully a deal can get done. I feel that David wants to play his entire career with the Mets and he doesn’t seem like the kind of person who is in it solely for the money. He has enough of that with his endorsements alone. Let’s hope we don’t even need to have this conversation.
XtreemIcon – No. Every attempt needs to be made to sign him, right up until he actually chooses another team.
Dan – I can’t even begin to think about what would happen if they fail to sign him. How foolish would they look after they paraded Wright in front of the cameras promoting the 2013 All-Star game, and then when it comes here next year he’s either set to walk, on the trading block, or already gone. Sadly none of the above would surprise me, but he needs to stay and Sandy better find a way to make that happen. Wright is already making $15 million, what’s another $5 million per year?
Mitch – I think the Mets should let go of Wright and get as much as they can for him. I felt the Mets made a big mistake by not doing that with Reyes last year. If David isn’t in the team’s future, then move on, and start rebuilding from the ground up. By the time this team is competitive again he will be on the tail end of his career. Unless the team is going to bring in some quality free agents around David to be competitive in 2013, they should let him go.
Nick – I do not believe the Mets should ever trade Wright because I believe in the end the Mets sign him to extension. Jose Reyes always had the intention although he says he did not to leave and go after the money. Wright was a life long Mets fan and seems to want to continue being the “captain” here in the future. Although Mets will have to pay big money to him, I think ultimately at the end they have to in order to avoid losing more of the fans, and because they need some veterans here when they are finally good.
Michael Barrett – No, they need to do everything in their power to re-sign Wright, even if it means waiting until the day before he can become a free agent to get it done. He is the only All-Star talent this club (non-pitching, of course) has, and losing him would set back the club another four years. In no way should he be traded.
Jessep – I don’t see how either scenario is accepted to be honest. The Mets have about 3-4 months this winter to show the fans that everything will get better. Say whatever you want about Wright – they have to sign him. They have to recognize his value, and the public perception of this team’s financial issues. They cannot have any bad publicity this winter, especially with the All-Star Game putting them on a national stage.
Joe D – I don’t know… Maybe I’m on an island, but anything more than five years for Wright would be outrageous and risky and we’d be hard pressed to get equal value in terms of production. As it stands now, Wright may have already peaked in 2008 if you look at his career metrics. Additionally, wouldn’t giving Wright more than five years undermine the argument that Omar was guilty of signing long-term deals to aging players with diminishing skills? Isn’t that exactly what Sandy Alderson would be doing?
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 24 | 18 | .571 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 20 | .535 | 1.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 23 | .465 | 4.5 |
| Mets | 16 | 24 | .400 | 7.0 |
| Marlins | 11 | 32 | .256 | 13.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
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If they can get major league ready right-handed hitting talent with some power..who can get hits WHEN IT MATTERS THE MOST?
Absolutely
‘If Mets dont come to an agreement with Wright this Winter…’
‘Should they trade him before the season starts?’
In my opinion, they have no choice but to trade him by end of ST if they can’t agree to a new contract. His maximum value on a return will be higher before the season starts. The less time a new team has him for, the less we’ll likely receive in return.
Like others, I sure hope they are able to work out a new contract.
Any team acquiring him has to have him on their opening day roster to get any compensation should he not extend his contract with said team, if I’m not mistaken.
That’s new b/c of the new CBA signed, right?
Yes. Keeps the big guns from getting draft picks when they stock up on players for the playoff run, a la the yanks.
Trade the guy… Not sure why this is a topic for debate. the guy has been on the decline since he was tagged as “the face of the franchise” and to quote some people in here after reyes was let go and not even offered a contract by the FO “It’s not as if we have won anything with this guy, Good riddance”. my exact thoughts on this guy, the core on the minaya era should be dismantle completely. Even though they don’t wanna admit it this FO is slashing payroll and we should not sign this guy just to have him making 17+ million to be a first half player or a 17 HR with 70 RBI type player. Trade him NOW that his value is up and let’s continue to “stockpile” the farm with prospect with “high ceiling” and good projection and hope for the best..
WRONG! He is the ONLY legit threat in the line up. I know, I know you feel Ike is a future MVP candidate. Apparently, in Alex League actual stats don’t matter in MVP voting. While Wrights HR’s have certainly declined, he has been the ONLY legit threat in the line up for some time now. DWright usually finishes in the top 20 in MVP voting. I would love to see a stat on the other 19 candidates and the players they have protecting him in the lineup. I know you feel that Flores has a very bright future (Miguel Cabrarera is who you compared him to, a sentiment I don’t share but man I hope you’re right on that.) but where does it say we need to weaken one of our few strengths in order to make room for some up and coming Hot Shot prospects. Give Flores a shot at 2b, 1b or OF before discarding Wright.
He’s the only legit THREAT??? based on what?? His OBP??? the guy has 17 HR and 80 RBI. and has seen his BA dropped like 90 points since june (when ridicolous articles where written about him hitting 400), and in the second half he once again disappear, hitting only 7 HR and has 23 RBI. if you tell me the man was not playing inspire baseball to get that lucrative extension something is wrong with you, no talk even in here was ever made about him signing long term as soon as the swoon began, the guy is a good player, but why would the mets commit 18+ Million for a guy who can’t hit HR, fades in second halves and is not a clutch player?? Do you want another jason bay situation with us? trade the guy while his value is up, not sure why we need to get rid of beltran, reyes, delgado and all the core players we had during the minaya era and keep him? It’s not as if we won anything with any of them.
Trade him while his value is up, i am not sure it’d be as high as it is now.
4 years 72 million, 5th year option for another 18. That’s 5 yrs 90 million if the option kicks in. He’ll be 30 so I wouldn’t go more than 5 yrs.
Sorry MMO, but Mets Police think you suck! Thought you should know. As for me you’re on my top 5. Just so you know.
Recently Sports Illustrated made a list if the “Twitter 100″ you should follow, so I thought I would rip off the idea and make a list of my own in not much of a particular order. I’m sure I am bound to disappoint someone who I inadvertently left off and I apologize in advance.
The purpose of a post like that is just to get attention, pay it no mind. No call for it other than to stir the pot. You’re a great white and that’s site’s a minnow.
You lost me at Cerrone.
Thank you for the heads up, but also no need to bring that here. I guess posting your list of twitter followers is considered great Mets reading these days so much so it even got featured on MetsBlog.
I applaud them both.
As far as who Mets Police follows, who cares? He dont follow me and I dont follow him.
As far as who Mets fans follow?
Only one Mets blogger has more Twitter followers than @metsmerized and that is Matt Cerrone.
So that’s how the Mets Twitterverse really sees it, that’s how Mets fans see it. But don’t worry, I wont be writing a post about that anytime soon.
What the heck is Mets Police?
10 years is just crazy. Even 8 guaranteed is crazy in my opinion. If I had to speculate (which is all one can do) I’d say prob 5 tacked on to the end of the coming option that would take him through 2018 with MAYBE an option year at the end and that is at the extreme end cause I don’t think less would probably get it done.
You have to pay him no more than 5/$100MM, take it or leave it. $100MM is still excessive but you get that back in spades with his PR value to the team so it evens out.
[...] MMO weighs in on how many years is too many for David Wright. [...]
Even a Golden Boy worshiper (right Bayonne?) like me wouldn’t give Wright 7,8,9 year deal. I’d go 6 but only as a team option year and not one of those vesting options either.
I can’t remember when you posed that question ha.
But I think we all need to be careful of just throwing #s out there now. What is he worth? what would he get on the open market?
I think of Wright as our Michael Young. The Rangers were going through rough times financially but they wanted to keep some form of stability with the franchise. Give the fan base a hope for the future.
That’s why this contract is so important. It’s gotta do 2 things
A) Show the fans the $ problems are being fixed
B) Show the fans there is a commitment to on the field success
I agree 6-9 years is ridiculous. I think you will notice most players are being signed for 4-5 year deals now.
Michael Young got $16m a year for 5 years.
Chipper Jones at a similar age to Wright got 6 years/90m with 2 club options for year 7 and 8.
To me, if you tell me the Mets offer Wright exactly what Chipper got – I’d say great job by both sides and move on. I’d even say it if he signed 6/100 like Zimmerman did.
If you tell me Wright demands something like 7/85 (Utley), 8/90 (Rolen), then it’s probably time to move on. There’s always a chance to ensure a player like Wright retires a Met. You don’t need to force that issue 8-10 years before it happens…. just like Atlanta did.
The huge difference between Wright and Reyes is positional depth. If Wright walks, there’s nobody to fill in his spot. Tejada is doing a nice job and has shown signs that he can continue to improve. The Mets would need to move Murph to 3B (whom we’ve seen enough offensively to know what he is) or go get a low rent 3B.
Wright means more to the future of this franchise than Reyes did or does. Reyes became a free agent at the wrong time. Bad luck, but he got what he wanted.
With Wright they need to get the message across that they want him – but that they have restrictions and offering a guy a Chipper contract is no slap in the face.
I agree with Mitch’s whole statement, Wright will be 30 yrs old next year under the last year of his contract. So when he signs his new deal he will be 31yrs old. David Wrights production has been on the down swing for 3-4 years now. He has shown an uncanny ability to get into prolonged slumps never to dig himself out of. Not to mention his 2nd half of the season production the last 4 years are terrible. Wright apologist love to use the excuse he is trying too hard to compensate for others..lol…which is hogwash. Either the guy folds under the pressure of the 2nd half hunt or either his age and back problems are catching up with him toward the end of a season. He should be held accountable for his play, trying too hard is not an excuse for “4 YEARS” straight of bad 2nd halves when his team needed him the most.
Mets need to move on especially since the owner of the team and I assume the teams scouts since they report to the owner believes Wright is a “GOOD player” and not a “GREAT player”. You pay great players 100Mil dollar deals not good ones, paying Wright that much money would be a bad investment and one that this new regime claimed they will not do which is handicap the teams future by overpaying players on the tail end of there careers.
Sad that so many people consider Matt Cerrone the voice of the Mets fans. He seems like a good person, but, IMO he is way too sentimental about certain players, especially David Wright. Wright has been a good player, but at 29 he is absolutely NOT worth a long term contract. The Metsblog readers are mostly Cerrone Kool Aid drinkers so they follow along with the 6-7 year contract idea for DW. It is beyond obvious that this team needs to move on from Wright. Activate the option and trade him.
Who said he was the voice of the Mets fans???
Matt just has a great domain name “Metsblog.com” which pops up in google whenever you search Mets.
Not to mention his affiliation with the team, which however brings in question his objectivity when talking about the Mets. Cant criticize someone you’re affiliated with and sponsers your site….Just read the fine print on the bottom of their page. Metsblog is only good for generic mets news which you can get most of that info from Adam Rubin who they link to multiple times daily.
A recent post within the last 45 minutes that I made on mets log is so so appropriate to your comment:
Matt Cerrone: This post is for you. In Toy Story 3; Andy grew up and had he had to let go of the cowboy. Yes it was painful. Let this franchise rebuild the right way (w/o Wright). We need a new cornerstone to this franchise of youngsters like to Braves of the early 90′s. They let go of Dale Murphy at the proper time.
The cowboy and DW even have the same personality. Quiet leader and loyalty. At least in DW’s case we think so.
Why is it that when the talk of Wright re-signing with the Mets comes up the Wright lovers(like Jessep)bring up Jose Reyes in an attempt to strengthen their argument to re-sign Wright. Its pathetic if he is a corner stone use his merit stop trying to downgrade Reyes to uplift Wright. Or is it Wright has too many flaws? And giving his merit will only cause the Mets fans with opposing views a platform to discredit those Merits like pointing out his many flaws. In any case Wright is not on Chippers level. Chipper was clutch and he carried his team offensively when it counted not to mention the Braves outspoken leader. He voiced his opinion on the direction of his team he kept his teammates in check when they were not doing there jobs up to standard. Wright does none of that he is a good guy who is the de facto leader on the team based on tenure not merit.
I remember last year when Jason Heyward was resting his shoulder after a DL stint had passed Chipper Jones called him out. And basically said the team needed him and if he wasnt hurt he needed to get his a** back with the club. This whole freaking season I’ve heard Terry Collins tell us fans how players were tired like Ruben Tejada,Murphy and some others whom I forget. Ruben Tejada damn near missed ALL of spring training and the beginning of the season. As of today he has 101 games played this year, the season is 160 games plus spring training. Ruben is 22yrs old not an old man. But here is the kicker Ruben knows he has to get his sh** together so he says this off-season he will play for his country in the world baseball classic then come back to NY to train with Jose fre aking Reyes. Matt Harvey stated he will train with Tommy hanson of the braves. Im not trying to say they need to train with Wright but proving a point that Wright isnt a leader so stop comparing him to Chipper he is a GOOD complementary player. Wright should be compared with the Nick Swishers of the world not the Chipper Jones’s. We overrate him because he is the best we have
And Nick,
“Jose Reyes always had the intention although he says he did not to leave and go after the money.”
Really Nick????? You must be some kind of mind reader….That is one of the most idiotic comments made by man…..How do you claim someone never had the intention to do something with “NO PROOF” whatsoever although everything he’s said and done have been contrary to what you are claiming. And I suppose if David Wright signs with another team you’ll claim its the Mets fault for not trying hard enough to re-sign him or they didnt offer him fair value…And that “Wright always had the intention of re-signing” because your crystal ball told you.
The length will have to be significant to show him that they want to make him a Met for life.
If they don’t show him that then there is no reason for him to stay.
Thats what he wants from us save our ability to make a winner team for him.
And since everyone seems to keep pushing the years back on whenever this great GM is going to make us competitive there is nothing left to compel him to sign except his dream of being with one team for his entire career!
It comes down to this…
Either you tell him We can only afford a 3 or 4 year deal (to reasonable terms) so we have the money to buy our way towards winning sooner rather than later
OR
You give him at least the hope of realizing his dream of staying with one team his entire career and give him at minimum 7 years as a starting point!
The last two could be options or incentive laden I would guess but if we think he is just going to sign a short term contract with no hope of them being competitive for the duration of it then Wright would be better off just playing out his option and finding a winner that can pay him, provide a chance to win a ring and maybe even show him that they want him to retire as one of them.
The Mets should try to build a team that can contend for titles. That’s the way to keep the fans. If they resign Wright but continue to suck then who will care? Who will buy tickets? On the other hand if the Mets can convert their assets (one or two of Wright, Dickey, Niese or Davis?) into a young, exciting team with true upside then the fans will respond.
Wright is a great player. Sadly, the Mets can’t afford to sign him and also address their myriad other needs.
At best they should just pick up his option yr then trade him during the following yr. Face it, while he been a good player he was never great. Why sign him long term when he has a history of dropping off in the second half of the season? I like Wright but don’t think he is worth the long term commitment. He isn’t leading the team to the world series so…
David had a great first half. Should they give him 7 years off that? I do not think that David is back to where he was. At his age I do not know if he hever will have a full season like some of those he has had. He has slipped back into bad habits again. Yet, his trade value is high based on that half. They would be insane NOT to trade him. But they better get something good.
He won’t be here, so why should we talk about years?
There’s still time to award David Wright that C on his shirt. Officially make him the Captain with a pre-game ceremony.
Is there still time for that? I mean he is the Captain right? Weren’t they saying that earlier around here? Has it stopped?
If Mets dont come to an agreement with Wright this Winter…
Should they trade him before the season starts?
I believe the Mets have already answered that by moving their minor league offensive player of the year; Wilmer Flores to third base.