I thought I would share an interesting email exchange I had with Dave In Spain who I’m sure most of you know from MMO and several other popular Mets sites.
I know they’d never ask the Captain, but do you think David Wright could ever be convinced to “volunteer” to move to left field?
This would solve the Flores positional issue, leave Murphy in place, and make it easier to go all-in on Shin-Soo Choo or Jacoby Ellsbury for right field. Chipper did it (later in his career)…
Just thinkin’ outside the box….
Thanks for the question Dave…
I have no doubt in my mind that Wright can pull it off. His range and arm would actually make him a great left fielder, and he has the speed and burst to compensate for lack of instincts on reading the ball off the bat. Eventually in 2-3 months he might be well above average defensively.
Yes, you are right and Chipper Jones did move to left field for a few years to make room for third baseman Vinny Castilla. Jones has always been a team-first player and so has Wright.
I think the stumbling block to such a move for Wright would be the Wilpons – who have always muffed things up in situations like these.
This is definitely a conversation that would need to be had with Wright, Terry Collins, Sandy Alderson and Jeff Wilpon all in the same room. If they did that, Wright would most likely do it for the team – and gladly.
But instead they’d likely handle it all wrong and put Collins in the uncomfortable position of making it look like it’s his idea alone and that won’t fly with Wright.
Sandy alone wouldn’t be able to handle it either because he is too unattached to any of his players and has no real bonds with them. To him, the players are simply inventory and a means to an end.
I don’t know if you are aware of this, but Jeff and Wright are very close friends and have a tight relationship. In this particular case Jeff Wilpon would actually be an asset in trying to pull this off.
I think it would improve the team immensely and solve the growing Wilmer Flores question…. Even if we didn’t sign Choo or Ellsbury and just waited for Puello or Vaughn to come along, it would solve some problems for the Mets while improving the team’s offense. I think Wright is athletic enough and has the instincts to succeed where others like Daniel Murphy have failed.
Unfortunately, I don’t see this happening. Maybe in a year or so, but not now…
Great question….
