Is David Wright on his way out of town or is he walking into a huge contract extension?

Here are a few talking points as this Thursday morning rolls around.

  • So, by now, you have heard that the Braves have inked BJ Upton to a five year deal worth approximately $75.25 MM, with the .25 million obviously being the deal breaker for BJ. It got me thinking about contracts for a number of reasons. Upton took a much more reasonable deal than I thought he could have commanded, but his value might have been hampered by the fact that the Braves had to give up their first-rounder to grab him. Even though he does not hit for a high average, he plays pretty good defense and steals a healthy amount of bases. However, the contract works out to about 15 million a year, and for a potential 30/30 guy each year with a contract ending at age 33, this seems extremely team friendly.
  • Does it bother you that the Mets have not been linked to Josh Hamilton or Zack Greinke? I am not trying to throw salt on wounds here, but if you only followed Mets blogs, you would not even know they were free agents. Speaking of big name pitchers though, anyone a fan of Dan Haren?
  • If we do hypothetically sign Wright to a lengthy extension, say 7/130 for the sake of argument, what does that say about the future of Wilmer Flores? Should he be shipped off immediately after an extension or should we keep him, expecting Wright to decline?
  • In 2008, Miguel Cabrera agreed to an eight-year deal worth $158.3 MM. After making $11.3 in 2008, the contract pays him an average of $19 MM through 2016. Zimmerman was inked to a six-year extension worth $100 MM, and there was a seventh-year option added on at the value of $24 MM. Evan Longoria got a similar deal, and the deferred payments used for some of his contract are being brought up in talks with Wright. It was not so long ago that Wright used to be considered better than all three of these players – in fact, Longoria was not even in the picture! But looking ahead, if we sign Wright to a mega-deal, will we be getting the worst of these four players with the highest paid contract?
  • If we trade David Wright, this year is going to be filled with stop gaps as we try to cope. How opposed are you to a name like Stephen Drew? And with Brandon League, my top relief pitching target on the market this offseason headed to LA, are there any other names really worth looking at or should we expect to deal with in-house options? I would not mind Soria, or even Mike Adams or JP Howell on one year deals.

Minor notes: Mike Piazza IS on the Hall of Fame ballot for this year’s vote, along with Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. Remember, 75% of the vote gets you in. You can find the full list by clicking here. In other Mets news, Jon Niese is scheduled for a minor heart oblation surgery around Christmas, and is getting married in January.