We just saw Jose Reyes deliver the greatest season ever by a Mets shortstop. Additionally, after 49 seasons without a National League batting champion, the Mets now have one in Jose Reyes and nobody could ever take that away from him or the Mets. (Can a no-hitter be far behind?)
At 27-years old, Reyes had the season of his life and now he is packing up all his speed, all his intensity, all his talents along with his batting title and heading south for the foreseable future. He went from face of the Mets franchise to face of the Marlins franchise which doesn’t sit well with Hanley Ramirez, but that”s a topic of discussion for another day.
Lets move on…
Imagine this… What if third baseman David Wright has a career year next season just as Reyes did in 2011, then what?
It’s obvious the Mets have catered the dimensions of Citi Field specifically to aid his production, and even Wright himself was all smiles and practically glowing about the proposed changes that are already underway.
Lets say David Wright bats .334/.419/.551/.970 with 44 doubles, 37 home runs, 131 RBI, 119 runs and 29 stolen bases in 2011.
All those numbers are about 5-8% better than what he’s already done before in each category. (Thanks, Baseball Reference!)
For Wright, this would be a career year.
It’s now October of 2012. The Mets have a team option, but David Wright wants a five-year extension before the season starts or like Reyes, he will not negotiate during the season and will test the free agent waters.
Remember that while Reyes is 28, David Wright will be 30 come January of 2013.
Do you think the Mets should give it to him or play it the same exact way they did with Jose Reyes a year ago – which ultimately ended with disastrous results and a fractured fannbase?
You know the question about a David Wright extension is going to come up as soon as the dust settles from the Reyes saga, so how should the Mets play it?
Would you give Wright a 5 year extension, trade him at the deadline, or let him walk after his option year as Reyes did and take the one sandwich pick assuming the Mets make him a qualifying offer? (Remember the new CBA rules take effect.)
Thanks for the GFX, Kelly. 🙂
