Bill Whitehead of Yahoo! News caught up with Mets captain David Wright today in Port St. Lucie who had a lot of positive things to say about the Mets clubhouse.
“I’ve never been around this good a mix of veteran guys in the clubhouse, but it’s also the attitude of the younger guys to go along with the depth we have,” Wright said. “As far as the kind of clubhouse that we have, I’ll put our character guys that we have in there up against anybody.”
As it takes a lot of character to be named captain of a ball club, the 34 year-old Wright is an expert on the matter. With veterans like Jay Bruce, Neil Walker, Curtis Granderson, and Jose Reyes, the Mets have a strong balance between veterans and younger players. The members of the starting rotation as well as guys like Wilmer Flores, Travis d’Arnaud, Michael Conforto, and the rest of the rookies in the organization all benefit from the leadership those veterans provide.
”I’m not sure if (character) gets you any more wins over the course of a year, but it sure makes it more enjoyable coming to the ballpark and going through spring training with one another when you have the great personalities in there that seem to mesh well together.” Wright continues, ”It’s like a brotherhood, especially with all the familiar faces. That’s something we haven’t had in a while, and that comes along with winning and when you have that consistency. When things aren’t going well, you have a lot of that turnover,” Wright said.
”It’s not coincidence that you see a lot of the same faces now as you did toward the end of last year. I think the front office and ownership really liked what we had going in the clubhouse and what they saw on the field. Looking around the room is an extension of last year.”
Teams can not rely on one or two veterans for leadership. There must be a strong base to lean on. When Bartolo Colon left this offseason, there was no panic whatsoever about who would fill his shoes in the clubhouse, which speaks volumes. So many other veterans remained that the young players could look up to and learn from that it almost becomes a second coaching staff.
I completely agree with the Captain that the clubhouse character is impeccable. It is the reason Walker took the qualifying offer, Yoenis Cespedes signed so quickly, and both Jerry Blevins and Fernando Salas returned. While the players are being paid millions of dollars to go to the ballpark every day, baseball is a game meant to be played and having strong character in the clubhouse is paramount in being able to do that.
