David Wright pulled no punches today when asked to share his thoughts on a variety of issues including the Carlos Beltran surgery fiasco, his role as a leader, last season’s power outage, and the Mets chances in 2010.
On his role as a leader:
“Each year, you develop more and more as a player and as a leader. With each spring training and each year, I feel more and more confident and capable of being a leader on this team and just like I have the last few years, if I see something that I think needs to be said, I’ll say it. I’m more of a guy that’s going to pull somebody aside down in the tunnel and say it rather than yell and scream.”
On what his expectations are for the Mets this season:
“For us, I don’t think the expectations are any different. Maybe the outside looking in, there are some different expectations on us. But the expectations that we have for ourselves are the same expectations we’ve had coming off a relatively successful year. We’re expecting to go out there and win the National League East, go deep in the playoffs and win a World Series.”
There’s plenty more to read at the Star-Ledger where Brian Costa posted the entire interview which includes several other great quotes. I encourage all of you to check it out.
I think much will be made of Wright’s comments and I’m sure that reporters are already on their phones with Jimmy Rollins to get his response to Wright’s claims.
The fact of the matter is that every Mets player should feel like Wright does, and if he doesn’t then he shouldn’t be on the team. Of course they must be assertive and 100% committed to the goal of winning and prove it by how they carry themselves on the field and how they play the game.
Every at-bat, every pitch, every fielding chance, every slide, and every throw has to be executed in a manner that shows your dedication and commitment to winning.
Attack each game one day at a time and treat each of those games like it’s the biggest game of the year. That’s what winners do.
Winners don’t ever slack off or get bored or make excuses.
In the last three years the Mets found far too many new ways to lose. Each heartbreaking loss would be upstaged shortly thereafter by a new and even more baffling and gut-wrenching way to lose a game. Winning teams find new ways to win. When they are down a few runs they believe they will comeback and win the game, and it’s that confidence and swagger that helps them overcome any obstacle.
The Mets have been far too unfocused, and they disrespect the game by their inability to play the game properly. Jerry Manuel says this spring will be all about fundamentals. I only hope that’s true and not just some more lip service. God knows we’ve already had enough of that.
