The Captain.
David Wright has been named the fourth captain in Mets history, joining Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter and John Franco.
Chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon said the decision was essentially made from an ownership perspective the instant Wright signed an eight-year, $138 million contract in early December. Wright, though, said he wanted the endorsement of teammates before accepting the honor.
Wright said it was a joint decision not to place a “C” on his jersey, since it’s not his personality and a standard uniform is sacred.
Read the whole post by Adam Rubin here.
You could see this coming a mile away, and it’s just a formality – David Wright is the leader of this team. Incidentally, I’m glad they’re keeping the “C” off the jersey. That always looked weird on a baseball uniform.
Another PR diversion from the folks that bring you losing seasons.
Izzy, I am bitter like you, too. But you have to admit this would of been done even if the Mets were coming off a winning season. It does make it harder in two years for the Mets to blame Wright’s contract for lack of payroll flexibility when they want to go from $60 million/year to $50 million/year.
Dan: it would have been much better to do it when/if they had a winning season. Now he looks like a guy who totally sold out to the Wilpons. They made him look bad.
Wright reached clear “captain” status in the midst of losing seasons and it makes sense to apply it now. His long contract is a sign he is here to stay and a reflection of his importance to the team. The “captain” label reflects reality though like almost anything else (some will try) we can put a bad spin on it.
I don’t think it necessary to wait a few years for form sake or something. Captains are helpful to be part of the journey to winning seasons too. And, whatever they do, Izzy types will put a bad spin on it. Really, at some point that comes pretty apparent.
Well Joe since you are so happy wioth crap teams, crap owneip and crap GMs I can certainly understand why you are so thrilled with a stunt ehich deflects from what is suypposed to be the goal of a professional team…that is to try to win. And tell where did you learn the rules of attaining captain status? Its pure BS, And by the way, pleae tell me who Captained those SF Giant top 2 world championships the last three years. Yeah, can’t tell us, because Captaincy in baseball is irrelevant. Everyone knos it but the Sandy adorers who have accepted losing in order to save the great Wilpon ownership. And just to ask, are you one of tose who celebrated Omar’s departure andloathed those years of contention and exciting baseball? Just wondering. Becaue to tell you the truth if you don’t care about winning you should follow T Ball where it doesn’t matter. These are the pros Joe. Sorry to tell you it does matter.
Wright’s a good guy, and it’s nice to see that his teammates are happy to give him this token of respect. (That management also gave it to him is neither good nor bad in my book.)
The real winners here are the Daily News and the Post, who are now free to use the word “Captain” for headlines about every good or bad thing Wright does for the next 8 years.
Argon you have hit the nail on the head. Its ireelevant, and the papers will drop the headlines in short order. Ever hear Jeter headlined as Captain? It ain’t ever mentioned anymore.
Clearly you’ve never listened to a Yankee broadcast with John Sterling, who refers to Jeter as “El Capitan” or Michael Kay, who calls him “The Captain”
Wouldn’t it be Wright’s responsibility to call the coin flip to decide which end of Citifield to defend?
Interesting with Jeffey making it known that it was a done deal when the contract was signed. I wonder how much authority Aldrich really has?