4
2012
Wright Wants To Remain A Met: “Not A Single Complaint”
An article by 
According to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, All-Star third baseman David Wright badly wants to remain in Flushing for life. Wright has indicated multiple times his interest in staying with the Mets, but this time around it was a bit more direct. Here are some highlights of Heyman’s column:
“I’m extremely optimistic,” he said. “I’ve really enjoyed it here.”
“Although we haven’t gotten things completely turned around, we’ve taken small steps in the right direction and have something to build on.”
“There’s not a single complaint that I have,” Wright said. “(The Mets) drafted me as a kid. They developed me. They’ve given me an opportunity to make a living playing a game. There’s a tremendous amount of mutual respect. They’ve gone above and beyond.”
“My favorite player was Cal Ripken,” Wright said. ‘”The biggest reason for that was, I like that he stayed.”
Wright is, of course, too polite to talk about dollars, or even years. But he did say about the coming contract, “You’d like it to take you to the end of your career.”
Good news for Mets fans, the face of the franchise seems quite content about staying in Flushing if given the opportunity. As posted here around 8:15 this morning, Wright has struggled this second half, so that could play a factor in the negotiations that will presumably take place to some extent this winter.
About the Author: Clayton Collier
Clayton, a Long Island native and die-hard Mets fan, started writing online about three years ago. He is currently a Journalism major with a minor in Broadcasting at Seton Hall University. Although very disappointed with the current state of the team, Clayton remains hopeful that the young prospects in the farm system will bring the Mets back to a respected franchise in baseball once again. Besides writing for MMO, Clayton is also a staff member at 89.5 WSOU, Seton Hall's modern active rock radio station. You can contact Clayton by following him on Twitter: @Clayton_Collier or E-mailing him at MaybeNextYearMets@yahoo.com
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Well to be fair to Wright, even if he has a complaint you don’t bash your boss in the media when you know your annual review is coming up and you are in line for a raise.
From not wanting to talk about contract or extension, to baby steps, to no complaints??? The man is all over the place… start and end conversation with 5/75… That’s fair for him.
What is fair and what the market brings are two different equations. Yeah a hometown discount wil help. Market for DW is six 120 M. Maybe Mets can sign DW for Five 100 M. Beware if he gives a substantial hometown discount there wil be a no trade clause.
NTC is pretty much a non-issue here, since by the time an extension kicks in he will be just about at 5/10 anyway.
All his talk “Should we trade DW?” His option kicks in 2013 so we could not tade him at the deadline this year since the option is only for the Mets. He would ave been a FO to the team acquiring him. I believe under the new rules no draft picks for the acquiring team. DW said he would only negotiate after 2012 seaon. The Mets could trade him once the 2013 option kicks in which is after this season. So since no draft picks to the acquiring team without an extension DW trade value would be like Beltran’s . SA somehow got quality in return. But if the Mets envisioned a sign DW to an extension i.e. with a home discount 5/100 M and then trade him it won’t happen because DW would put a NTC in the contract.
Again total insanity!!! Can you please for once be objective? That’s less than what he makes now! Who would you replace him with that has done anything?
Here’s hoping he remains a Met for Life!
Wright should be a Met until he goes into his decline at 33. No more than 4 years guaranteed or go play for the Marlins or Dodgers.
Let someone else pay him for ages 34-37.
Now we’ll find out if Alderson is all talk or full of shyt. Because if he gives Wright an Omar-esque contract, the villagers will pillage Citi Field.
We’ll see. As I’ve said before, everyone involved is going to say all the right things. We won’t know the real story until a decision is reached (and maybe no even then).
That is true!
If the front Office was serious about turning this team around and serious about keeping Wright and getting him in the fold long term for a reasonable rate…
Then what they really SHOULD do is say to him hey we want you, We don’t want to trade you, We want you to end your career as a Met and be here when we win.
But we can’t afford to pay top of league dollar to you, we need some of that money to get better at other positions and if you agree we promise to do that as soon as we can find a player we think can do that!
I bet Wright Signs, Signs long term AND at a discount!
And if they actually did that and kept thier promise to Wright, we might see that we are not so far away that a cleaning of house is the smarter play!
But I sure won’t be holding my breath waiting for that to happen!
Too bad we can’t trade FOs for kids because thats the best trade we could make right now!
I want the Mets to sign him, but I’m now a little leery because he wouldn’t even want to talk about an extension when he was hitting .340 and now that he’s mired in a .240 two month slump he’s talking about wanting to be a lifelong Met again? It’s just weird.
It’s not weird..
Don’t forget as far as the player quotes are concerned it’s not them bringing it up it’s the reporter.
And asking him about his future contract makes for a more interesting story than “Well you Lost again say something we can print!”
You wanna’ bet the Wilpons will blow the deal-you watch, and when it all falls apart Fred and Jeff Wilpon will come out with some snarky statements on why it couldn’t be done and the crocodile tears will be flowing enough to flood Citi Field. If it was a different FO I would feel the deal is possible but not with this bunch. Wright is from the Virginia Beach area and I would not be surprised if he becomes an Oriole. The O’s are real close to a champiponship team and they are drawing fans and Wright just may be the hometown player they covet to put them over the top. Wright has added value as a Gold Glove 3rd baseman too.
What makes you so sure it’s the Wilpons who want to get rid of Wright and not Sandy?
Truth is they are the folks who are most likely to FORCE Sandy to sign someone he would rather not pay big bucks to.
Metsie: This is the way I look at it. I can haggle with a car salesman (Alderson) for hours or days over the price but eventually we can’t shake hands until he sneaks off into the backroom and talks with who knows who (The Wilpons) before he comes back and closes or says no to the deal. Not a bad analogy.
Thats presuming though that the Wilpons don’t want him but the truth is they need Wright more than Sandy does.
They need the attendance to keep paying the bill and drawing people who can help them make stadium payments.
What I see more Likely is that Wilpon says to Sandy try and get him and Sandy does everything he can to make sure no deal is made!
And then go back to Wilpon and say there was no deal we could get. Then when Wright eventually gets one say I was willing to pay 1-2 Mil less per year but he was all about the money.
It could happen that way but wouldn’t you think that Aldesrson’s GM tenure would be a total failure if he loses Wright and if things start going south will the Wilpons step in and overrule Alderson and make the deal?
WellI think the latter is as likely as what you proposed…
Truth is i DO think Sandy’s tenure is going to be a failure and I also think Sandy doesn’t feel he needs Wright to Succeed. On this point I also think he is wrong!
I think he is going to hear the price from Wright’s agent this year, and if he doesn’t like it (which I’m sure he won’t) just wait and trade him. The best chance for Wright to re-sign is if the Wilpons insist Sandy re-sign him.
And that is way more likely IMO than Sandy wanting Wright and Wilpon saying No WAY!
They actually like Wright he has been a good soldier and reliable especially as far as Public relations go.
The PR is the only thing that will force Sandy (via the Wilpons) to resign him.
But Sandy doesn’t seem to care what anyone thinks, he has his moneyballin plan and he is going to stick to it!
Only the Wilpons will force him to spend on Wright unless he truly wants him. And if he Wants him the Wilpons sure won’t stand in his way!
If Wright does go then Sandy won’t be far behind him even if the Wilpons did squash the deal!
The press has already started the questioning…
Next is the criticism (it will start in the offseason when moves are or are not made)
Then the endgame, He has to go he has made the team worse, this is not oakland or tampa, can’t run a etam like this here articles.
Hi Metsie,
The only question I have in all this speculation is if it is Sandy calling the shots under no restraint from the ownership, why would the ownership have allowed him to have gone this far with the moves our GM is responsible for that have caused attendance to fall so much? Being businesspeople, they are certainly aware of how much they have have lost the financial support of their fan base and that the anger more than outweighs the support directed toward them and the one they hired – which doesn’t bode well for 2013.
Joey D. — It makes some kind of sense if we admit that the owner is really Bud Selig, the guy who made some bucks in the automotive industry.
Hi Des,
LMAO – That is the best suggestion of them all!
Des isn’t far off but it’s not direct involvement by Selig.
It’s pretty simple actually WHY they let it go on….
Because Selig is the guy they will turn to first if they lose money again this year and need another loan!
I do believe Sandy was pushed (maybe not all that hard) onto the Wilpons by Selig to get the finances in order. So even if the WIlpons wanted to stop him they would not do it until they are sure they really don’t need Selig to bail them out anymore. If they need loans now they can say hey it’s your guy we let him do what he wanted and we still need a loan or two.
If they break even this year (or turn a profit) then you will start to see the Wilpons start exerting thier influence on the GM again as might be the case with Wright.
We all argue the Sandy vs Omar thing to death but the truth of the matter here is that Sandy isn’t replacing Omar, Ricciardi and DePodesta are! Sandy is replacing Jeff Wilpon who doesn’t have the business skills to run a Lemonade stand let alone something as complex as a baseball team. John Ricci was retained pretty much to act as translator for Jeff so when Sandy does and says something Jeff might actually learn from him (not sure thats a good idea but anyway…)
The WIlpons have never really been an ownership with strong hands on the GM. That can be a blessing and a curse! Have a good GM and let him do what he wants you succeed, have a bad GM and you fail miserably!
So I wouldn’t expect them to change that while Seligs preferred GM is running things until such time as they don’t need Selig anymore.
And considering their payroll is under 100M that time is right around the corner.
And Wright will be the indicator of just how far they will let Sandy go putting payroll ahead of PR and Performance.
Hi Metsie,
The Selig factor as far as having to leave their general manager alone was something I didn’t consider and agree could be a factor.
We saw the fall-out from the commissioner’s office last year regarding the 9/11 ceremony fiasco when the Wilpons stated they had to follow a strict edict coming from MLB that forced them to make David Wright remove that cap honoring the first responders in the dugout. So one can just imagine what would happen the behind the scenes if they went against the edict of Sandy Alderson’s re-organization measures.
Well keep this in mind….
The Wilpon’s and Selig are also friends. And there is a reason why Selig was so willing to help them above and beyond the call of duty…
Sure he had self interest in not seing another major market MLB team going into bankruptcy but Wilpon has been one of the few BIG MARKET owners who has done everything it could to comply with the directives the Commishioner had tried to implement.
For Example the Slot Guidelines everyone complains about!
They didn’t comply because they were broke hell they were making money hand over fist from Madoff back then!
They did it because Fred is loyal to Selig and kept the small market teams off his back!
I bet if the Yankees found themselves in the same position as we were in Selig would have forced them to sell the team because they have pretty much thumbed thier nose at all his attempts at controlling spending. I bet the Dodgers did too!
SO yes there was some pressure to a degree but it’s not as a draconian authoritarian as it may sound when suggested.
David Wright is a class act.
Does he remind you of his old pal, Jose Reyes? lol
Alli the foregoing doesn’t mean a deal will be reached, but the first step from David is refreshing and I hope rewarded.
It’s good to hear Wright talk about wanting to stay and loyalty and growing up liking Cal Ripken but right now that is all they really are just nice words. Considering that at one time some felt Wright would be traded last Winter or this past trading deadline I’m glad to see he is still here hopefully the Mets and Wright will be able to work something out where he is a Met long term. We already lost 1 home grown All Star to free agency it be nice if we didn’t have to lose another.
I love David Wright and I think it would be amazing to see a homegrown player spend his entire career with the Mets.
However, I love the Mets more than any individual player. Therefore, I’m all for the Mets getting better going forward. I don’t think this means we have to trade Wright. I just think all avenues should be explored when considering how to better this team. I’ll be shocked if Wright re-signs with this team if there aren’t major improvement for the 2013 season. He loves it here, he’s been treated great here…but he also wants a contract that will take him to the end of his career. I’m not sure his front office or his owners who don’t think he’s a superstar are committing to all that.
I think the Mets should definitely explore what the market offers, and go from there. Just committing to re-sign Wright without seeing what you can return in a trade would not be prudent. The fact is, this team as constructed is not a contender; they might not be a contender for a few years. That said, if you could add some high-end young pieces, you go for it.
The trouble is that to trade Wright, we’d have to be proactive and not reactive. We’d also have to be creative. We are not a proactive reactive organization.
We are not a proactive creative organization. (sorry for the typo)