IT’S HIS WRIGHT
Back David, but add 3B
STAT OF THE DAY
DAVID Wright admirably — and unsurprisingly — is not giving up, despite his latest daunting medical setback. Yet that certainly shouldn’t change an indisputable truth about his standing as a player on the Mets going forward.
While the organization should continue to back Wright’s desire to play again, it clearly no longer can count on him doing so in Flushing, perhaps ever, and it must address the third-base position with more permanence this winter in planning for 2018 and beyond.
Wright will undergo yet another operation today in New York, this time to repair his right rotator cuff after the injury-ravaged captain shut down his latest comeback attempt last week due to continued pain in his throwing shoulder.
Add that to the neck surgery that ended his season last year and the harrowing spinal stenosis diagnosis that cost him most of the previous campaign despite returning in time for the 2015 World Series run, and there certainly can be no banking on an actual storybook ending here for a snake-bitten franchise mostly devoid of those for decades.
“It’s really, really sad,” Terry Collins said about Wright before Monday’s matinee against Philadelphia, “to think that this guy is one of the best players in the game and he’s had to miss the amount of time he’s had to miss with various injuries.
“I salute him for what he has had to go through, but it’s been really tough to watch.”
Wright, who has three years and $47 million remaining on his contract after this season, has appeared in only 75 games in the past three years due to the aforementioned back, neck and shoulder ailments, including none since May 2016. And even before the latest surgery revelation, there already was talk of him needing to switch to first base for the sake of his health.
Thus, no one at this point would begrudge the seven-time All-Star calling it a career and shifting into the next phase of his life — be it broadcasting, coaching/managing or away from the game altogether to simply enjoy retirement with his young family.
But as I have written multiple times in the past year-plus, I still believe the right to make such a life-impacting decision should be his and his alone. And his manager agrees.
“That’s very true, but this guy respects the game,” Collins countered when asked Monday about the retirement argument. “He respects where he came from and what he’s done and the people who’ve given him that opportunity, which is this organization. And I’m sure in his mind, he feels he owes them max effort, which is the kind of person that he is, as you know, and I salute that.
“As we all say, why would he go through it? Well, because he thinks he has to and should. You’ve got to stand behind him and say ‘go get ’em’ and certainly all hope for the best and that he can get back to the rehab and he’s able to get back on the field.”
All fair, especially when you consider how much of Wright’s salary the Mets have recouped through insurance payoffs already and stand to continue to reap if he’s unable to make it back.
But with Kansas City All-Star Mike Moustakas (36 homers) heading a free-agent class that also includes third basemen Eduardo Nunez, Todd Frazier and others, the Mets need to address the position this winter beyond potential stopgap holdovers like Asdrubal Cabrera, Jose Reyes and injured T.J. Rivera (who is having Tommy John surgery this week).
“The only thing I can tell you is that during our discussions about it, David’s just said ‘I think I still have something to offer and I have to give myself that chance to see if I can do it,’” Collins said. “Some of it is, we sit back as people who watched him when he was the best, and say, ‘Why would you go through it?’ I just think this guy’s heart is still in it, so he’s gonna chase it as long as he feels he has that energy.”
Jose Reyes, who came up with Wright through the minor-league system and shared the left side of the infield with him through the breakout portions of their Mets careers, also unconditionally supports his desire to return.
“It’s sad, the work that he put in all this time, and now at this time of the season, he has to go and have surgery … It’s tough,” Reyes said. “I’m not going to say I’m surprised, because he’s a competitor and he wants to be back on the field.
“As a good of friend of his, I support him all the way. It’s no easy decision. All the work he put in and all this time, and now he’s gonna shut it off for a little while. But if he wants to continue to try to get back on the field, I’m 100 percent behind him.”
Such loyalty should continue to be the Mets’ take, as well. Wright has earned that much.
They just no longer can simply wait or wish or count on it to happen.