“The Mets Have to trade David Wright.” I turned to Sean yesterday in our living room and made the case that David Wright has to be traded. Sean didn’t agree and yesterday he
wrote about it, promising I would do the same. Sean made the case that trading Wright would be a salary dump and the third basemen is too valuable as a marketing asset to get people in the seats for the Mets to get rid of, despite his $15 million salary next season. I don’t agree and I don’t think it’s about getting rid of salary right now, it’s about maximizing value.
As I said, Wright is set to make $15 million this season and has a team option for $16 million next year with a $1 million buyout. I know Wright has said and done all the right
things in his time in NY but why would he stay beyond next year? He will be 30 years old and one of the premiere third basemen in baseball, set to make a ton on the free agent market and ready to leave a team on which he has won nothing to go to a contender who can add him to an already good mix. The New York Mets need to see this and act in a sensible fashion. They understood that Carlos Beltran was most likely going to leave after 2011 and they made the right call to ship him off at the deadline for a top pitching prospect (Zach Wheeler). But, they stupidly believed that they had a real shot at keeping Jose Reyes despite not being willing to offer him market value (or just refused to accept the fact that he would leave) and didn’t trade him and look what happened. He’s off to a division rival and all the Metsies get back is a 3rd round draft pick.
The Mets cannot contend as presently constructed. Yes, it’s because the Phillies, Braves, Nationals, and Marlins are all better than them, but mostly it’s because they are so bad. They have a core made up of Wright, Jason Bay, who hit .245 in his first post-concussion season, Johan Santana, who hasn’t pitched in a year, and Ike Davis, who didn’t play an inning after May 10th. On top of that, they have nothing (repeat: nothing, not anything, zip) on top of that. Make whatever argument you want but I have seen Angel Pagan play and know he’s not that good. The new shortstop Rueben Tejada, is great in the field but can’t hit a lick (can you say Rey Ordonez version 2.0?) and Nick Evans is a 4-A player at best (though a very nice guy, I’ve met him). You could add Albert Pujols to this team and they’d still lose 85 games.
Clearly, David Wright cannot carry this team into the playoffs and the time is now to get something back for him. A number of teams are in the market for a third basemen including the Angels, Cubs and Brewers and the Mets could get a nice package of prospects back for Wright. This is not a salary dump, it’s just a smart, realistic baseball move that must be done if the Mets ever want to turn back into a real contender.
Thought Provoking Question Of The Day: How do you know you know?
-Max Frankel
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