I just wanted to add some new comments David Wright made to Newsday regarding his recent slump that has seen him go 10-for-his-last-49 at the plate with just one home run and two RBI, dropping his average to .277 for the season.
“I’m maybe trying to do a little too much and trying to make some things happen. I can’t be going up there and getting myself out or swinging at pitcher’s pitches early in the count because that’s counterproductive.”
Wright has been brutal at the plate without a doubt, but that record-deal he signed in the offseason will only magnify things even more from now until 2020 when his deal expires.
As a team the Mets are batting .227 which ranks 14th in the NL, a mere percentage point ahead of the Marlins.
But as I mentioned yesterday, if you were the opposing pitcher and saw John Buck or Lucas Duda batting cleanup would you give Wright anything good to hit?
Original Post 6/3
Third baseman David Wright didn’t run and hide after the Miami Marlins completed their three game sweep of the Mets this weekend. Instead, the team captain stood by his locker and took the heat of what was an embarrassing three game set in South Florida.
Wright didn’t mince any words on Sunday and suggested that the Mets could be just as bad a team as the Marlins, and possibly worse.
“We don’t have much room to talk ourselves,” Wright told reporters after the game on Sunday. “Talking about, ‘We should beat this team, we should beat that team.’ There’s probably a lot of teams saying that about us right now.”
“They were struggling just as bad, if not worse, offensively than we were. And they came in and just beat us up pretty good. All in all, not a good series.”
On Saturday, Wright also levied some criticism on the team and said that no savior was coming to help them.
“This is what we have to work with, so we are going to have to figure it out,” Wright said. “There is no magic potion, there’s no offensive savior that is going to come and get us out of this thing. It’s up to us to work our way out of it.”
Wright, who is 1-for-his-last-15, spoke about his slump and acknowledged that he might be trying to do too much.
“I got to go up there and start being better and maybe taking some walks. I am swinging at some pitches I normally wouldn’t swing at and getting myself out a little bit. I keep preaching that the offense is kind of run on getting on base and taking your walks and I am not doing that right now.”
There’s a great deal more that’s wrong with this team than David Wright. When he signed that record-breaking, eight year, $142 million dollar deal, I was adamant that the front office needed to back him up with a legit bat to protect him in the lineup or this could spell doom.
Like he’s done so many times before, Wright is trying to compensate for a porous offense and trying to get the Mets back into the game with one swing of the bat. I can’t fault him for trying. However, I can fault a front office who should have known and seen this coming after observing Wright for two seasons.
How do you invest over $140 million dollars on one player, and then do nothing to protect that investment?
If the top priority last off-season was to sign Wright to an extension, then the second priority should have been to sign a big bat to protect him in the lineup. Wright’s never been one to carry a team, but protect him in the lineup and he’ll give you some eye-popping production.
