WRIGHT: I’LL BE BACK ... SOMEDAY:
The ship sails on without captain
After weeks of speculation and mystery, David Wright did not so much provide answers on Tuesday night as inspire sympathy. Watching the Mets third baseman and captain say that he couldn’t specify a timetable for his return from a spinal stenosis diagnosis, the primary feeling was: What a bummer.
What a bummer for Wright that, while his team was tied for first place in early June, his pertinent quote was, “I have a more narrow than normal canal.”
For a player who emerged during a winning era for the Mets, chomped on a cigar after clinching the National League East in 2006 and then waited through his physical prime for a drawn-out rebuild, this absence is frustrating enough to be borderline heartbreaking.
“You don’t understand how much you miss something until you’re away from it for so long,” Wright said. “Because of where we’re at and how exciting this team is, it has been fun to watch. But it has also sucked to watch, because you want to be a part of it.”
Wright’s demeanor seemed upbeat — this is an intelligent guy, in full control of the process — but you couldn’t help but think that he was supposed to be talking about a win, or home run, or even a loss. Anything but the sore back that has kept him from participating in the most interesting Mets season in years.
His reality now is far removed from that. One person close to Wright said that the third baseman grew extremely frustrated after rehab in Port St. Lucie brought no improvement. That person said that Wright himself pushed the pro-active course of seeking additional treatment in Los Angeles, and the team cooperated.
Now, after extensive consultation with a specialist, it is Wright who is smartly
emphasizing that he will not rush back, and put himself at risk for surgery.
That leaves the Mets to decide how to field the best possible team in his absence. One obvious move is to shift Wilmer Flores or Daniel Murphy to third base, as both would provide better defense there than at their current positions.
At the very least, Murphy should be the third baseman again, after Dilson Herrera returns from the disabled list. At the moment, every infielder but Lucas Duda is playing out of position, and the team must look at how to tighten that arrangement. Ideally, Flores would be at second tonight, with Ruben Tejada at short and Murphy at third — but the Mets are loath to do something so radical, after Flores committed to improving at short.
There is already a feeling in the clubhouse, evident in conversations during the homestand that ended Sunday, that the Mets need to look externally for a bat.
“If David is going to be out a while, we’ll need a hitter,” one player said.
Well, David is going to be out a while. Whether it’s a Martin Prado or a Ben Zobrist or someone else, Sandy Alderson will be searching for incremental upgrades — a much more likely course than a splashy, Troy Tulowitzki-type move. After watching Tejada fail for years, the GM is surely not counting on his utility man to maintain his current hot streak.
All of these potential moves and considerations will happen without Wright. The face of the Mets got to meet and greet in the clubhouse on Tuesday, but will soon vanish to L.A. again. His old buddy Michael Cuddyer, who Wright waited years to play with, will travel with the team to Arizona on Wednesday night, while Wright will continue a highly frustrating process.
As Wright demonstrated again during his lengthy public comments on Tuesday, the Mets are fortunate to have a captain so composed, eloquent and cordial. But no one is feeling lucky at the moment, with Wright gone indefinitely.
There is little we can say to capture the situation better than Wright himself did, while standing at a Petco Park locker that he doesn’t need.
“It sucks,” he said.