Two decisions loom large over the Mets as they spend the winter building their 2013 roster and planning their franchise future: What to do with third baseman David Wright and starting pitcher RA Dickey, both of whom are scheduled to be free agents after their 2013 options years.
Both stars appear to want to return to the Mets and, money aside, both are no-brainers for the Mets to want to keep, as each was this year’s best in the National League at their respective positions.
David Wright is the Mets’ lone remaining superstar, he is the face of the franchise, and, with the Braves’ Chipper Jones retiring, Wright is the king of all National League third basemen. Losing him would send a message to Mets fans that the team has no intention of attempting a playoff run until at least 2015.
While Wright’s injury-plagued and mediocre-performing 2011 season dimmed his reputation, Wright’s 2012 resurgence and overall career performance speak for themselves: Wright was again as good as any 3B in the league, and next year he will be the National League’s active career leader at third base in virtually every offensive category that matters, including batting average, slugging average, on base percentage, stolen bases, etc.
The only assessment difficulty for the Mets’ brain trust, notwithstanding ownership’s monetary woes, is that David Wright will be 30 this winter. While the “first half” of Wright’s career has certainly been Hall of Fame-caliber, historically, 30-something players who do not performance-enhance are subject to decline and/or injury–at some point. That said, other Hall of Famers at the hot corner, such as Mike Schmidt and George Brett, remained extremely productive well into their 30s, and Wright matches their athleticism, if not their abilities. There is every reason to believe that a healthy Wright continues to be a dominant offensive force.
Bottom line for the Mets, and for Wright, is that both sides would dramatically benefit by finding a way to keep Wright in a Mets uniform, certainly for the next five years and, one imagines, for the remainder of his career. The Mets need the good PR of “trying to win” as well as a having home-grown superstar to market, and, for Wright, one can imagine far worse baseball fates than spending perhaps the rest of his life universally acknowledged as the everyday player with the greatest career in Mets history.
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