Report: New York Mets May Not Activate David Wright Anytime Soon

The New York Mets don’t have much going for them in terms of fan interest at this point of the season, and that won’t get any easier with the team’s decision not to promote Peter Alonso to the major leagues next month. One of the few players who could generate some buzz with the fan base is third baseman David Wright, whose rehab assignment progressed to AAA Las Vegas yesterday. Wright, who picked up a hit and played all nine innings at third yesterday, has a few days left on his rehab assignment before the clock expires. Despite all of his progress, the Mets do not appear inclined to activate Wright from the 60 day disabled list anytime soon, MetsBlog.com reports.

Despite the progress on Wright’s rehab, Mets’ assistant GM John Ricco told the media yesterday that the team’s captain has yet to “hit some of the benchmarks” that the Mets set for Wright’s rehab. Wright got off to a very slow start in his rehab, which is to be expected after missing nearly two full years of action, but is now 7 for his last 22 with a double and two RBI’s. The Mets still don’t believe that Wright will be ready when his rehab window expires after Thursday’s games, with Ricco noting that the Mets haven’t seen enough out of Wright on a quality or quantity level to justify activating him to the big league roster.

Some of the team’s beat reporters dug a little deeper on the issue, and they have some interesting theories on why the Mets are hesitant to activate Wright from the disabled list. Here’s one from Mike Puma of the New York Post:

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Of course this situation is coming down to the Mets wanting to pocket the insurance money since they don’t think Wright is ready to contribute at the big league level. When it comes to the Mets, money has been the number one decision maker in this franchise’s moves. If you want to know why Jay Bruce is the first base plan in September instead of Alonso or Dominic Smith, money is the answer. How much money will the Mets save by keeping Wright on the 60 day disabled list? Newsday’s David Lennon did the math and has a rough estimate:

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That’s right, the Mets don’t want to activate their captain and give the fans something to feel good about in order to save just under $2.5 million. For a frame of reference, the money the Mets would save by not activating Wright is just over $400,000 more than Jose Reyes’ 2018 salary. Again, the Mets are letting relative pocket change determine the moves their franchise makes, which is infuriating to the fan base.

In terms of baseball economics, it does make some sense to leave Alonso in the minor leagues until next season in order to avoid starting the service time clock. Not activating Wright to sit on the end of the bench, especially when active rosters are expanding to 40 in September, is a sign of extreme cheapness. The Mets need to put Wright back on the 40 man roster anyway after the World Series concludes if he intends to try playing in 2019, so there is literally no harm they can do by activating him now. Wright clearly wants to get back on a big league field to see if he can contribute at all going forward, and if he can’t he may be able to retire by going out on his own terms. The Mets owe their captain that much, and not giving Wright that opportunity to save a few bucks is an absolute disgrace.