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November 30, 2012 12-13 Offseason Joe Janish

Mets Sign David Wright

Mets make David Wright Mr. Met for the next 8 years. He gets $138M, which apparently is less than “superstar” money.

Comments?

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
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  1. Mike Kelm November 30, 2012 at 11:38 am
    Good. He’s the face of the franchise and the undisputed team leader almost since the moment he was called up. It’ll be important for the Mets fans to have one high quality player as a touchstone, one thing to be loyal to besides just the concept of Mets fandom while they go through this extended period of mediocrity. Having lived in Maryland for a long time, I know that Orioles fans always had Cal to root for, even when the O’s were bad. I now know that I’ll always have DW to root for, even though the Mets are bad.
  2. MikeT November 30, 2012 at 11:43 am
    No Met has ever spent his entire career with only the Mets and retired as only a Met. David Wright will be the first. This has value, and the Mets just paid for it. And Oh yeah he’s the best player the team has ever had and is their best player right now. This is a good day.
    • SiddFinch November 30, 2012 at 12:31 pm
      Congrats to DW. It was a deal the Mets had to get done and for once they came through.

      “The Krane” wore only the blue and orange his entire career as did Ron Hodges, and that’s about it.

  3. Mike B November 30, 2012 at 11:46 am
    It is a lot of money, but thats what these guys get. I feel no more uncertain about wright as I would if I were a braves fan thinnking about BJ upton, in december all you see is power and speed and defense but in July your only going to see him batting under 250(bj upton that is). I would say for the most part no one lives up to the money of these mega contracts but glad DW will be here the next 8 years and I truly believe he can play like a superstar if we put other offensive talent around him.
  4. Mic November 30, 2012 at 12:01 pm
    Firstly congrats to DW. I have been a nay sayer, but regardless I want DW to lead, hit and accumulate GG’s.

    Interestingly, DW is the only player signed past 2013, other than Niese who along with RA is supposedly being talked about in trade. Now what happens to that flexibility?

  5. derek November 30, 2012 at 12:40 pm
    im glad the DW saga is over…now we can get on to some other biz…

    we need multiple players so now that wright is in fold we need to make a deal to trade ra or niese to get some guys in return…can niese could get us 2 productive everyday starters?

  6. Tommy2cat November 30, 2012 at 12:47 pm
    Very, very pleased. There’s a lot of young Met fans out there that grew up with David Wright & wear #5 in his honor. It’s a really cool thing, in this day of free agency, that a child can have someone like David Wright serve as a role model for his or her favorite team.

    I also like the message that it sends to everyone in the organization – the Harveys, Wheelers, Floresesesessss – if you succeed in a Met uniform, it doesn’t mean you’ve stamped your ticket out of here.

    Moving forward, I’d really like us to keep RA Dickey. Good pitching beats good hiting. Not that we could do it, but if we signed Greinke we’d have one sick rotation for 2014:

    Greinke, Dickey, Harvey, Niese, Wheeler.

    At least we can dream again. 🙂

  7. NormE November 30, 2012 at 12:56 pm
    We all love David Wright and are happy.
    Wil we love David Wright seven year from now with his big money and diminished ability?
    • Walnutz15 November 30, 2012 at 2:31 pm
      That’s where I’m at….in not subscribing to the vow of “being married to” David Wright’s career. There are fans like that, but I’ll just never be that kind.

      ……..and I really haven’t loved what we’ve seen from him over the past few years.

      GREAT 1st half last year…..

      Not so great in the months following…….

      Prolonged periods of bad AB’s and K’s in the really dark years (“he’s spooked from the beaning”/”he’s playing with a broken back”)…..

      Really nothing sparking fear in the heart of opposing pitchers; in the way of power…..

      Though, he was able to minimize K’s last season with much better AB’s.

      It’s definitely time for him to step up, finally take this team on as his own, and get back to the levels of production he was at — pre-Citi Field — especially with a contract like this one.

      Stepping aside from my “tough love” sentiment, it’s nice to see a diplomatic guy – who is the spokesperson for one of the least professional organizations in baseball, get rewarded for all the baloney.

      That being said, we can finish in 4th place with anyone. I wish Wright a productive Met career, always.

      I just pray to the Baseball gods the Mets made some big promises to him…….that they’ll actually keep their word on. Could anyone blame a guy for thinking poorly of the Father/Son in office upstairs?

      Good luck, Fiver. I’d love nothing more than to see you carve out a Cooperstown-worthy career — and more importantly, WIN — in this uniform. The realist in me says that doesn’t happen, unless the Wilpons are truly committed to putting more pieces on the field.

      We’ll see how this all works out, and it’s something the Mets felt they definitely needed to do – mainly due to years of not having anyone to carry the torch.

      …………and keep in mind, I’m actually a fan of Wright.

      If more crap is added to the mix, then we shouldn’t expect much to change in terms of sustained success as a club. I couldn’t care less who’s playing 3B at that rate.

      • Joe Janish December 2, 2012 at 12:32 am
        I don’t think the Mets had a choice; if they don’t extend D-Wright, he leaves, and the Mets have no one to market whatsoever. Ike Davis is a nice player, but people buy #5 jerseys.

        As for the on-field performance, I don’t believe Wright will come close to being worth it. However, I think it will be a better investment than the Mets’ last two $100M+ deals (Santana, Beltran), and I think the back-end of the contract will resemble Mike Young and Texas. If it turns out that way, in the grand scheme of things, it’s worth it, because, again, the main reason to lock up Wright is to ensure there aren’t crickets at Citi Field for the next 8 years.

  8. DaveSchneck November 30, 2012 at 2:49 pm
    Swell, good for DW and team. Much more to do as NL east competitors get better by the day. This was an owner’s deal. Time for the 3 GMs to do something positive.
  9. argonbunnies November 30, 2012 at 6:02 pm
    Congrats to Wright. Such a good guy, he’s always been easy to root for, and that won’t change.

    I don’t see us getting the most wins out of our budget during these next 8 years… but who knows, maybe our only hope of contending has always been to have a huge budget anyway…

  10. James November 30, 2012 at 10:41 pm
    I love David, but he will be good only if surrounded by good hitters. 15 hrs 85 rbis without good hitters 25 and 110 with.
  11. Izzy December 1, 2012 at 10:15 am
    Good for David Wright. Too much to walk away from. Team will not get better because of it but at least they stay a step ahead of the fish. Wonder how many kool aide drinkers will continue to write how the liepon family has no $$ to spend.
  12. Vilos December 1, 2012 at 11:06 am
    In a previous Post, Joe compares Wright with Seaver suggesting that Wright might follow a similar path.
    Does the fact that he signed tell us something about Aldersons plan to make the mets contenders?
    We obviously haven’t seen the plan, but Wright has.
    Did Wright sell out and hope for the best or was he convinced the Mets have a plan in place, or a mix?
    • Joe Janish December 2, 2012 at 12:37 am
      Of course Alderson and/or the Wilpons gave Wright plenty of lip service about “building a winner.” But what else would they say? And just because they say it doesn’t mean it’s true, or that their plan will actually work.

      My bet is that an even bigger sale to Wright was to be a “career Met” / “greatest Met ever” / etc.

      The money was damn good — probably better than what Wright would have been offered on the open market a year from now — and when combined with the same kind of status of “all-time face of the franchise” that Cal Ripken, Derek Jeter, and Chipper Jones enjoy, it became a no-brainer.

      • Vilos December 2, 2012 at 2:27 pm
        So you believe Wright sold out and is hoping for the best.

        I don’t agree. I tink its a mix.

        Of course the plan might go wrong, but I plan is definately in place.

        So what does this plan look like?

        Long term, from what I’ve read, I would think that Alderson wants a roster mix with a couple of all stars in the 15 to 20 mm range, maybe twice that many goodplayers in the 10 mm range. Then you have the upcoming stars and the one yer fill ins between 1 and 5 and then you have the rest at league min. How much does that add? 150 to 200?

        How to the mets get the? By competing and filling seats like the phillies and the yankees.

        Short term: let the actual team grow and develop. Let them become competitive again and start to fill seats. Time will tell if Davis and niesa are all stars, or if duda and murphy upgade or hiw wheeler and harvey work out. For now, look and wait for an upcoming star in the outfield and behind the plate and continue to upgrade the minors.

        • Joe Janish December 2, 2012 at 6:11 pm
          Sounds like a decent plan for a small-market club.
  13. AC Wayne December 1, 2012 at 2:17 pm
    Glad Wright is locked up, pretty much a no-brainer, w/o Wright, fan base would have diminished even further than it already had, no real 3rd base prospect in the pipeline for the Mets ala Tejada was for Reyes, always felt the Mets had money just no flexibility, now let’s see how FO handles Dickey, good day for Mets and fans!!
  14. Dan B December 1, 2012 at 3:27 pm
    I think one of the reasons the Wilpons signed Wright is that they are afraid of falling revenue. They have two huge loans that need to be refinanced. If they can’t show some sort of revenue to the bank, they have no shot at getting decent rates. As any two bit real estate investor knows, it is all about the deal. Wright at least puts fans in the seats– more then a BJ Upton type would (especially short term). If the Wilpons were in a different (and stronger) financial state, they might have been more inclined to trade Wright.

    Hey Joe, you wrote a blog about how BJ Upton’s contract would effect Wright’s contract. Do you think Andy Petite’s contract will effect Dickey’s contract?

    • Joe Janish December 2, 2012 at 12:39 am
      I don’t recall writing about Upton’s contract affecting Wright’s.

      I did write that Hiroki Kuroda’s deal impacts R.A.’s value, and I’m sure that the Pettitte deal caused the Wilpons and Alderson to crap their pants.