26
2012
Longoria Deal Sets The Bar For Wright
An article by 
Whatever you hear about what David Wright might be asking or the Mets might be offering, just understand the bar has been set by his contemporaries Evan Longoria and Ryan Zimmerman, Both are close to Wright in terms of age and production. Just not salary.
The Tampa Bay Rays, long known as a team with low payroll agreed to a contract extension over the weekend with Longoria for $100 million over ten years. The deal includes the same terms of his current contract through 2016, then adds an additional ten years. There is an option for 2013.
Who knows if the Rays will be in Tampa by then, but wherever they go, Longoria will be with them.
Then there is Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals, who, after moving into their new park have become big spenders. Zimmerman, who is a long-time friend of Wright’s, signed an extension before spring training last year for $100 million over six years, including the final two years of his current deal plus four more seasons.
Arguments can be made both are better recently than Wright, who after two down seasons bounced back in 2012.
Longoria is the face of the Rays as Wright is to the Mets, but has better power numbers. He is 27 and Wright will be 30 five days before Christmas. Zimmerman is 28.
Remembering Wright is roughly three years older than Longoria and a year older than Zimmerman, he has 204 career homers with an average of 26 a season. Longoria has 130 with an average of 33. If he maintains his current pace, by the time he reaches Wright’s age, he could have 230 career homers.
Zimmerman has 153 career homers, averaging 25 a season.
The Mets maintain re-signing Wright is their priority, but seem close vested as to what they are willing to spend or how long a deal they might give. A ten-year deal like Longoria’s puts Wright close to 40 at the end, and likely well into the downside of his career, much like Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees.
The last four years have been below Wright’s standards and include trips to the disabled list for a variety of injuries, all sustained by playing hard. That includes lost time from the Matt Cain beaning, which can’t be termed an “age related” injury.
All that will be considered in the Mets’ offer.
Statistically, the three are fairly even with Longoria having the highest upside. Given that, I don’t see how the Mets could justify anything less than $100 million and six years, although recently I suggested they go $100 million over five years.
The years might vary, but $100 million appears to be the ceiling. Do you see the Mets setting the bar higher?
I didn’t think so.
Longoria’s contract will be argued as the bar for third basemen. It shouldn’t vary by much. The only real question is: Do the Mets want to spend the money?
About the Author: John Delcos
I am an active member of the BBWAA and have covered Major League Baseball in several capacities for over 20 years, including ten in New York working the Mets' and Yankees' beat. I covered the Baltimore Orioles for eight years and the Cleveland Indians before that. I currently serve as an editor and senior staff writer for Mets Merized Online. Follow me on Twitter @jdelcos.
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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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The mets should not waste money on wright.. his best years are 5 years behind him and again, he’s not a franchise player, just because you’re the best player on a bad team doesn’t make you a franchise player. usually franchise players are leading their team to the playoffs, and last i checked, we have not won shiT with him so why bother to sign him and keep sucking? Save the money for future FA that will lead us to the promise land.. King Felix maybe?
Where has Giancarlo Stanton led the Marlins, or Troy Tulowitzki the Rockies?
Well, i don’t think the guy is all that, but check to see who’s made more postseason app between tulo and wright… then come back at me please.. And last i checked, Stanton is in his second year right? and had not been for him getting injured who knows how the season would’ve turned out in Miami. Your american idol is arguably the best player on the mets, a bad team, stop trying to pretend his best year are not behind him, because… THEY ARE.
Stanton just completed his 3rd season. David wright’s 3rd season he was in the LCS.
I’m not suggesting it is a fair comparison, but you kinda fell into that one
LOL I have a car named Alex.
Yes and Anderson Hernandez in his rookie season was in the LCS
Anderson Hernandez >>>> Giancarlo Stanton
David is a good final piece to a team on the brink.
he’s not terrible,. he’s just terrible under pressure
Well, at this point is fair to say stanton look like a franchise player who can do it all by himself as pujols and arod did it.. at any point, did wright ever do that? It was beltran, reyes and delgado the guys leading the mets not him. this guy fell into heaven when surrounded by all those great players, now he seems lost without him.
Do you keep the same paragraphs you post every day about Wright stored away so you don’t have to waste time reposting them every day after day after day, sometimes even the same dribble in the same day twice? That would suck to have to retype that same crap every day, maybe it can be used as help with your typing skills I guess?
You really do have a selective memory of how good those guys were and how bad Wright is. The whole he’s nothing with out them is pretty obvious, most fans of baseball actually know that ONE player will never be able to take an entire team to the promised land, so thinking he sucks because the last few years he couldn’t carry the team the entire season from start to finish shows what you lack in baseball knowledge.
Message is sent and received, you hate the guy, and maybe if you post the same thing every day some other half wit will start to believe you.
A championship team is never carried by one player, ever.
LOL…so no coincidence as to why folks still point to Wright’s torrid September of 2007 and September 2008…and conveniently leave out the fact that damn near the whole team was smashing the crap out of the ball..
In 2007, Wright, Castillo, Alou, Beltran, Delgado were all insane in September
In 2008, Wright, Beltran, Delgado, Tatis, Church were all insane in September
when Wright is doing well…its David Wright and the 5 Heartbeats
when Wright is not doing well…its he cant carry the team by himself
When the rest of the team is doing well and David isnt…it’s…time to switch the topic…
From June – September – 2012 David hit .264 with 13 HR:
in front of a scorching hot Ike Davis…there goes the protection excuse
in much fairer dimensions…there goes the dimensions excuse
without any back fracture….there goes the injury excuse
So yeah….again, please tell me why there is such a double-standard with Mr. American Idol ?
Damaja: The only time David Wright’s September 07/08 comes up is when some people try to claim he’s unclutch in the same breath they praise Jose Reyes.
I noticed in both September lists you left off Reyes?
The point is the same people claim Wright is terrible because he’s “unclutch” yet they ignore Reyes’ apparent lack of clutch hitting as well. Why is Wright’s “unclutch-ness” a reason to degrade him but not a reason to be down on Reyes?
Lets talk about that double standard?
Jessep, don’t cave to their tactics. Who cares about Jose Reyes or this double standard crap to start with? The Mets need to make a decision on Wright based on what is best for the team. Not because of any of this crap.
First off…hilariously enough…the first signs of Wright being unclutch was in 2008…in September…against the cubs…in the 9th inning…with a 3-0 count…David had the go-ahead run on 3rd base and opted to swing on 3-0…on a ball closer to the dugout than his bat…than again on 3-1…than again on 3-2 ….
pinella IBB delgado…and beltran…and the mets lose…
that to me was the 1st sign of the pressure getting to Wright…
as a middle of the order hitter, your job is to drive in runners, hit home-runs, be the “straw” that stirs the drink…
the reason people bring up Wright’s unclutchness is because unlike Reyes, Wright is made out to be the face of the franchise, the centerpiece of the team, our leader…hell…go to metsblog and Matt Cerrone today said we should give him a 7-8 year contract AND give him the Captain title…
the guys who are like that…your Albert Pujols, A-Rod’s, Chipper Jones type players are held to THAT standard of clutch offensive performance
This is why Beltran was haunted by that curveball…had it been Jose Valentin, everyone would understand…
No one in their right mind ever thought Reyes was the face of the franchise or the lord and savior Wright stans make their idol out to be
That explains the clutch/unclutch standard
Can you explain the one i pointed out?
probably not
First off…hilariously enough…the first signs of Wright being unclutch was in 2008…”
Wrong.. All year he hit 243 with RISP, and noone in baseball had more chances with men on base than david allen wright, and all year he stunk up the joint when it matter… he led the league in get this, SAC FLY because of sooo many opp he had with RISP. he ended up with 124 RBI, can you imagine if he had hit 280 or maybe his avg up to that year? He would’ve ended up with 150+ RBI easily.. but hey, we’re supposed to forget that because he only failed in that one at bat,. Right…
ehh…its kinda hard to do it via stats all the time and measure clutch…
for example…
i have the bases loaded 3 x and strike out in the 1st, 3rd and 5th inning…I am not clutch
I get the same opp in the 12th inning, and I hit a game-winning grandslam…I am now clutch again
I technically hit .250 with the bases loaded…and im the most clutch mofo on the face of the earth
reverse it and I’m batting .750 with the bases loaded, but if i strike out in the 12th inning with the game on the line, Im no longer clutch…
is there a stat with RISP and/or bases loaded after the 7th inning when you are behind by 1-3 runs?
“he led the league in get this, SAC FLY because of sooo many opp he had with RISP. he ended up with 124 RBI, can you imagine if he had hit 280 or maybe his avg up to that year? He would’ve ended up with 150+ RBI easily.. but hey, we’re supposed to forget that because he only failed in that one at bat,. Right”
Not much of a math guy are you??
Wright had 189 AB with RISP that year. The difference between the .243 he hit and the “.280″ you speak of is all of about 7 hits over the course of the year. It’s highly unlikely that 7 more hits (from anyone) would generate 26+ RBI.
W Alex I will counter what difference does it make what your BA is if in the end you drove in over 100 Runs?
The result is more important than how you got there.
Perhaps the BA declines due to a lot of Sac Fly’s which to me are just as good as a hit that doesn’t score a run.
In the end you have to judge his ability to drive runs in over his BA during that proccess.
and why do you care?
Bottom line, if you are the Nats or Rays you keep your player. If this were the Yankees, Wright would have been signed by now for the 100MM. So this is not so much about Wright and how great or good he is, it is more about the Mets. He is a player that is deserving and can command around $100MM in salary. Lesser players and certainly more annoying players have received more.
By your logic we shouldn’t want Felix either. 8 seasons…0 playoff appearances
I have said it before and will say it again. I believe signing Wright is more about showing everybody around the sport that the Mets are financially stable and can afford to keep a homegrown player after losing another.
When I look at 3B’s I think of: Chipper, Zimmerman, Longoria, Rolen, Beltre, Aramis and Miguel Cabrera as contract comparisons from age 30 on.
Chipper made 13.2m (and change) on average from age 30 to 36.
Zimmerman will make 15.3m and change from age 30 to end of his contract
Rolen made 10.7m
Longoria will make 15.8m
Beltre 14.4
Aramis 13.1m
Miggy kind of a special case due to the positon but he will 21.6 in the final 3 years of his deal
So to me you’re looking at roughly $14m a year for 7 years. That is how I would value him as fairly as I could.
I will wait to pass judgment until a decision is made one way or the other but I believe is Wright walks, it’s a black eye on this franchise whether people here want to admit it or not. It says to outsiders or other players that Reyes wasn’t a special case, that there truly is something wrong in New York. That is not good for business.
Jessep,
I dont understand if we are rebuilding what does it matter the perception of other people. This is the exact same thing Sandy said he would NOT do and thats handcuff the team. Why overpay Wright when youre rebuilding the team. We are just getting rid of all the big fat contracts that the Mets and Sandy stated he wanted to get away from. 7 YEARS??? To a 30yr old with a history of back problems, especially when your counterparts are being paid less money for less years.
The Mets dont need to show anyone they are financially stable. What they need to show is that they have a plan and are sticking to it. You cant bash the past regime for over spending then proclaim never again will they over pay then BOOM lets overpay Wright to show people we are financially stable. Doing that wont solve anything but appease sentimental die hard fans of Wright just for the moment. Who to be honest wont spend a dime to see the Mets if all they have to trot out is Wright and a band of rag tag minor leaguers.
I honestly dont get that logic…doing things for appearance sake
First off, I do not think they are rebuilding as dramatically as you make it seem.
“To a 30yr old with a history of back problems”
Okay I get what you mean to say here but lets not over dramatize his situation with his back? It’s not like he’s got chronic back pain, the guy had a stress fracture in 2011. Those aren’t “problems.”
I feel like Tejada filled in for Reyes quite well and I do not trust the Mets have a legitimate 3B to replace Wright in the next 3 years. Everybody is high on Flores now but he’s just 1 year removed from a lackluster A+ season. He’s got a long way to go toward being a big leaguer.
A 30 year old with a history of back problems…hmmm sound familiar? A NYC player who had a few MVP type or near MVP seasons develops a back problem and slowly over a few short years it robs him of his power and makes him a shadow of his former self..Anyone? Anyone? The initials are DM, played for the team crosstown? Exactly, and that is a fear I am sure Sandy may have. I like David, he is a solid player and citizen, I just do not think he is worth a $100 million investment. I would let him play out his extension year and let some other team give him that money. Then I would promote Wilmer Flores and say have at it kid..
Remember that 29 year old free agent who really did have constant back problems and the Mets refused to sign him because of it?
All he did was win the MVP the next year and have 4 straight top 10 MVP years.
Good ol Vlad Guerrero.
I get the back injury thing but can we please stop acting like he hobbles around the clubhouse with chronic pain? He fractured it in 2011.
I don’t remember anybody saying “wow look at what Wright is doing with a bad back” when he was an MVP candidate through 82 games.
In the previous 4 years, That 29 year old hit
2000- .345 with 42 HR
2001 – .307 with 44 HR
2002 – .336 with 32 HR
2003 – .330 with 39 HR
Vlad entering his free-agent years was an absolute monster
David Wright….lol…not so much
Jessep
“I don’t remember anybody saying “wow look at what Wright is doing with a bad back” when he was an MVP candidate through 82 games”
You are aware there are 162 games in a season Right??? The next 74 games he played like a below average starter(Wright last 74 games – .258avg 10HR 34RBI).
And no one is saying that Wrights back will cause him to be useless but I dont spend that much money on Wright a guy who has come off of 3 straight yrs where he has struggled badly. Whom has had back issues. The back only gets worst with age no matter how minimal you think it was, back issues are NEVER minimal.
But speaking of Vladimir Guerrero…Wright was no where on Vlads level, but i get the back comparisons. But you realize Vlad started to decline at age “32″ and DH a 1/3rd of his games. And at age 34 he totally fell of due to his back and he was a DH at the time. Wright will be at a more back taxing position 3B where he has to bend over an squat 9 innings every game no DH.
We dont even have to look as far as Vlad we could look to a Mets fan favorite Edgardo Alfonzo who played the 2B/3B we saw 1st hand how his back sapped him of his power and swing very early in his career.
No one is saying Wright was hobbling around they are saying they dont want to be tied down to a max contract with Wright when he starts to hobble around. If Wright was consistent and not had so much strings of down years this would be less of an issue. But we already see Wright regressing his play wont get better but it will get worst.
the funny part is that David actually was in the middle of a hot streak when they shut him down PROACTIVELY
I personally dont think he has back issues…and they shut him down when he was obviously the weak link on the team…he had been hitting .190 in the month of may when they shut him down. then when they shut him down…the team started playing better as a whole…
RIGHT THERE….that told you what his value to the team was
4 straight seasons of absolutely piss-poor production in the 2nd half
But he speaks English so well
( i was being sacastic when I said he was on a hot streak )
LOL
Are you trying to suggest his injury was made up??
He wasn’t in a hot streak before he was shut down…he was 2 for is last 20.
And the team actually started playing better about 3 weeks before Wright was shut down…they were 13-8 . Yes, they did continue to play well for a bit after Wright (and Ike..should we dump him too?) got hurt. But any team can play well for a few weeks. Reyes and Beltran were red hot at that time. Reyes hadn’t shown that level of production in prior years and didn’t show it this past season either. And even still all they could muster was a whopping 2 games over .500 over that span Wright was out.
By your logic Beltran is trash too. In 2010 the team was EIGHT games over .500 in the first half of the season when he didn’t play at all. He came back and the team couldn’t buy a win. Did that RIGHT THERE…tell us what his value to the team was???
I believe he is.
But if somebody said Reyes’ thyroid was made up…. watch out for racial claims!
No I’ll save those claims for the 101 other times they were valid.
Like all the met fans that said Reyes was greedy when he didnt want to negotiate in the middle of the season…( like 99.999% of athletes approaching free-agency )
but now say zippo when its Wright’s turn and he said the same exact thing…
I have 100 more examples of the media and Wright fans with their disgusting double-standards…
we wont even get into the long-lost mystery of why Carlos Beltran struggled with the fans and media here…
KC – he’s just fine
Hou – he’s just fine
SF- he’s just fine
StL- he’s just fine
NY – not so much
Same thing with Delgado
He has his wrist broken in September 2007 on the last day of the season….
He misses most of Spring Training…starts the 2008 year off rusty….
what did the media say???
He was PURPOSELY dogging it…( in a CONTRACT year ) because he didnt like Willie Randolph..
Keith gets on the air and talks about how he used to perform for managers he didnt like…and he thought there was some mutiny on the team with Delgado leading the charge…
Keith quietly changes the topic when Delgado starts going off on a torrid hot streak…which started 10 days BEFORE Willie was fired…
Guys like Bay, Wright, McReynolds are never accused by the good ol boys in the media and henceforth…the fans give them a pass for doing the same stuff or worse as their brown counterparts
Then again, maybe the writers are just catering to the fans tendencies…
after all, how else can you explain folks here ranking Cam Maron over Juan Centeno.
Cam threw out 12% of baserunners and was a DH for 30% of the season…and still miraculously he gets the nod over the guy who throws out 40% of baserunners, plays better D and still hits for avg,
David Wright himself said that he didnt feel any pain in his back when they pulled him from a game that day.
Since the MRI was conducted a full month after they suspect he was injured, it is scientifically IMPOSSIBLE to pinpoint the exact time and date a micro-stress fracture occurs in a back.
David was stinking up the joint BEFORE that “injury”
From April 1st to April 19th David hits .230 with 2 HR’s
the injury was on April 19th
From April 21st to May 3rd, David hits .295 with 3 HR and 10 RBI in 10 games. Sounds like the disasterous back injury helped him find his stroke
From May 4th to May 15th, David hits .125 with 0 HR…and folks are noticing…
Not saying that he did not have an injured back…but David sucked BEFORE the back injury…
I think if David was hitting .402 with 10 HR’s, they give him some advil…
And yes, everyone blamed Beltran for coming back too early and “ruining the chemistry” in 2010….
what folks forget is that the Mets were slumping BEFORE the LA series. The slump actually started in San Juan when Reyes ( who was playing with a messed up oblique all year long ) finally went down.
And Reyes from May 20th to July 6th hit .349…WITH A TORN OBLIQUE
And the difference between Reyes, Beltran and Wright is that most fans KNOW Beltran and Reyes are a great complimentary piece to a good team…A good 40-50 million of Wright’s “value” comes from things that have NOTHING to do with his production on the field.
at the end of the day, the same sentimental saps that are crying for Wright, will stay home and cry and moan about Wright not having support ( even when the folks around him are Beasting in the 2nd half like Ike Davis )
You can dress up a bag of dog-sh*t and call it a happy meal all you want, its still dog-sh*t
And from April 1 to April 16 Wright as hitting .308/.373/.519/.892…any player can have a bad couple of days. He had a bad couple games. Then he had the fracture…played well for a few days…and then started struggling. There wasn’t 100% correlation b/w him struggling and him getting hurt….he’s slumped at times when he wasn’t hurt, but certainly a fracture in his back can hurt performance. And Wright downplayed the injury b/c he wanted to play. Just b/c he’s not the type to cry to the media the second he gets hurt, doesn’t mean he wasn’t hurt.
And if we are going to have more fun with silly stats and mock injuries…Reyes hit .210/.256/.280/.536 in 2010 over about 36 games to start the year…before his hot streak you cited and before his little oblique injury. (Which was sustained the last day of June)
And for the record (before you call me racist). I like Reyes a lot….he was one of my favorite Mets ever and I’m still pissed the Mets let him go.
I just get a kick out of the hypocrisy of some other Mets fans/Reyes fans. They constantly talk about the “clutch” stuff…and kill Wright (and Beltran) but then completely ignore the slumps Reyes has had at the most inconvenient times. I can’t even imagine how much crap Wright or Beltran would have gotten if they performed the way Reyes did in those two Septs….yet Reyes gets away with it only being an occasional mention…usually in a retort to something that is said about someone else.
Reyes gets about 2 seasons worth of a pass every time he pulls a muscle. Wright fractures his back, Beltran has chronic knee injuries and people think either the injuries are fake or that they shouldn’t be an impact on their performance whatsoever.
Maybe people just like Reyes’ smile
trading Wright away = a black eye that heals
resigning Wright to a 7 year deal = amputating an arm
“The Tampa Bay Rays, long known as a team with low payroll agreed to a contract extension over the weekend with Longoria for $100 million over ten years. The deal includes the same terms of his current contract through 2016, then adds an additional ten years. There is an option for 2013.”
Not sure if it was an honest mistake or not BUT thats NOT exactly true. Longoria will make $100million over SIX years starting in the year 2017-2022 (the extension kicks in during 2017)NOT ten years. 2013-2016 involves Longoria’s original contract that he signed with the Rays.
Below is a more clear breakdown of his deal from MLBTR
******************************************************************************************************
“The contract incorporates the 2013-16 salaries from Longoria’s original deal with the Rays, meaning the third baseman will earn $6MM in 2013, $7.5MM in 2014, $11MM in 2015 and $11.5MM in 2016.”
“Then Longoria will earn a total of $100MM from 2017-22. Under his previous deal, the Rays had club options for the 2014-16 seasons. Rays executive VP of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said it made sense for the team to sign Longoria for the next decade.”
******************************************************************************************************
10 yrs $100 million would be an EXTREME steal
I don’t see how this sets any bar for Wright….
Chisox will probably not retain Kevin Youklis. Their main hole to fill is 3B. Robin Ventura might unretire and come player manager.
David Wright IMO would be perfect for that franchise.
Who do we get as the main guy in the deal? Their top prospect.
http://www.perfectgame.org/players/playerprofile.aspx?ID=240421
Arizona will be the perfect fit for Wright. Arizona has a very good 3rd base prospect but not ready. They also can affort Upton for a year before he gets too expensive after that. Hill, Kubel and Putz have 1 year left on their contracts.
The Mets should use this opportunity to sign a well rested Tim Tebow.
1. Anyone know if a 2012 draft pick can be traded now. If not what is the holding period required for the first year fraft picks.
2. Sandy drafted Gavin Cecchini No. 12 instead of Courtney Hawkins No. 13 by the Chisox. Although Hawkins is only out of HS he looks to me to have a very bright future. He hits the ball a ton.
3. Metsie if Hawkins delvelops into a premier righty power hitter at ML level then SA should be sued for malpractice.
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/eye-on-baseball/19259118
…Additional Information ca be found here…
[...]I am now not sure where you are getting your info, however good topic.[...]…