Shutdown won’t force Wright out
PORT ST. LUCIE — David Wright is not ready to hang up the spikes and retire after receiving the news of his latest medical setback that he will have to shut down all baseball activity for another two months.
Wright, the Mets captain who is recovering from lower back and rotator cuff surgery last year, and who has not played in a regular-season game since late May 2016, spoke to reporters from Los Angeles via conference call Wednesday, 24 hours after the team announced the latest blow to his comeback attempt. “As far as the time period goes, it certainly wasn’t positive news. I guess the news could have been worse,” said Wright. “The way that I’m looking at it — it’s not like I have to be idle for eight weeks. It’s eight weeks of focusing on the actual rehab. Hopefully I can start my spring training two months from now. That would be the goal.”
Wright, who has three years and $47 million left on his contract, went to L.A. to meet with and be examined by Dr. Robert Watkins, who performed the back surgery on Wright last Oct. 5. Wright, 35, said that the news Watkins delivered wasn’t a total surprise, but nonetheless “frustrating” as he continues to try to make a comeback.
“(Watkins) just said, ‘Look, your body is just taking longer to respond. I wouldn’t call it a setback. There’s nothing more wrong with you. With this type of surgery, some people respond quicker than others. You’re just taking a little more time than what we originally expected,’” said Wright, recalling the recent conversation with Watkins. “It was good to hear that, but at the same time obviously frustrating because at this point I was hoping to be doing a little bit more than I’m actually doing.”
Wright said his pain level varies from day to day. “Some days I’m fairly useless,” he said. But Wright said he has peered into the future and when he does finish his career, he wants to be able to lead as painfree a life as possible.
“If you don’t get it right this time, it could affect you down the road,” said Wright. “I want to get back and certainly give it a shot playing baseball, but down the road, you don’t want to have back problems the rest of your life.”
Wright’s health woes started in 2015, when he was diagnosed with spinal stenosis. He missed 115 games that season, but played in the playoffs. In 2016, Wright played in 37 games before having neck surgery to address a herniated disc. He missed all of the 2017 season recovering from the neck surgery, then had procedures done on his lower back and rotator cuff. Wright said the immediate plan is to do rehab work with Dr. Watkins for the next two weeks then rejoin his teammates in New York for Opening Day, March 29 at Citi Field. “When the doctor says don’t do anything for two months, you listen to him and I guess you take his advice,” Wright said.