Seven-time All-Star David Wright has no quit in him. The 35-year-old has been rehabbing with the St. Lucie Mets since August 12th, and Marc Carig of The Athletic details his grueling push for a return to the majors against all odds. After undergoing three different surgeries in the past 26 months, Wright’s day involves painstaking attention to detail in his pre-game routine, and his overall rehabbing process has included broader-scale challenges up to and including completely relearning how to play catch. The Mets’ captain, however, has chosen to embark on this arduous journey back to the majors in part because (as Carig says) “even in the face of long odds, the fear of regret is a powerful motivator.” In Wright’s own words, “I guess it’s stubbornness on my part, wanting to give this another try and do this on my terms.” Carig’s piece is a length read that does an excellent job of providing insight into Wright’s struggles and perseverance.
Some other recent notes out of Queens…
- The Mets are making a mistake by not giving Dominic Smith an extended audition, David Lennon of Newsday writes, suggesting that the club appears to be entering the “evaluation period of this lost season, to see who should stick in 2019 and beyond.” If that’s true, Lennon writes, then the club ought to be giving Smith more playing time to see if he can develop into an everyday first baseman. The “jerking around of Smith” in an effort to give Wilmer Flores reps at first and make him more versatile doesn’t compute with Lennon. After all, the kid isn’t too far removed from being the 11th-overall pick in the 2013 draft, and it’s far too early to consider him a failed prospect. Since Lennon wrote his piece, the Mets have gone so far as to option Smith to Triple-A in favor of giving veteran Jay Bruce reps first.
- The newest member of the Mets organization is Dominican shortstop Willian Lugo, whom the club recently signed for $475K (h/t Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com). Notably, the club was able to bring on board in part due to the international bonus pool money they acquired as part of the trade that sent Jeurys Familia to the Athletics. Lugo did not rank among Baseball America’s list of the top 50 international prospects of the 2018-2019 signing period.
smith should be back in a week when rosters expand. yeah it sucks that they have to send him down for jay bruce but its not the end of the world
Couldn’t agree more. Let Bruce play at first for a week or two. See if he can handle it. Then let smith finish out the season and see if he can handle it and go from there.
The Mets should trade Dom Smith if they aren’t going to give him everyday playing time. What they’re doing to him is just disgusting. What a horrendously run team.
they never taught him how to bunt.. enough said
Why would they? They only care about long swings with launch angle
bunting is stupid and a waste of everyones time
So are your posts…
You have never made any kind of thoughtful, relevant posts on this site. That is all I do. Go away, troll.
And by the looks of it, so is proper punctuation.
I’d like to see the Royals take a shot at Dom Smith over the winter. Pratto is a year out of high school and likely wont be ready for 3 more years. Put Smith on 1st base next season and let him play himself in or out of a job. Besides Pratto, the Royals dont have high ceiling prospects at 1st base.
You want more after witnessing Duda?
Hey walls…how poetic. Nothing is the end of the world with the Mets. That’s why fans accept mediocrity and losing while giving the Wilpon’s $&&
I agree that the Mets have not really given Dom a chance. If they want him to learn the OF then why aren’t they playing him in the OF in Vegas? He needs to play in either RF or LF everyday. They also need to send him back to the Arizona Fall league after the World Series to work on OF defense.. Dom is a real likable young player whom I would really like to see succeed for the Mets. I do think he has talent but it has not really been honed in the Mets very sloppily run minor league system. For F___ sake they didn’t even bother to teach this kid how to bunt? That just shows how really incompetent their failed systems happen to be. They really do need a new GM with a very firm hand not only on their big league team but on the minor league teams too.
David Wright could sit at home and cash the exact same paychecks. Instead, his gives everything he has to try to earn them.
Not sure why he gets the derision he (typically) does for trying to comeback.
Some fans are idiots. Wright has always had his heart in the game.
Absolutely! As someone who has spinal stenosis (though mine is cervical), I couldn’t imagine playing baseball again. The surgery alone is a long recovery process especially if there is bone grafting involved. Though I don’t think he had that. Hope he can play again.
I’m a Braves fan, so not a Mets fan, but how can you have anything but respect for Wright? When he plays, he puts his heart and soul into the game, and was able to accomplish the dream most of us have – to play MLB (and at an All-Star level). He could have any time in the past few years hung ’em up and not a SOUL would blame him… Everything I read about him points solely to the fact that he loves the game – ““even in the face of long odds, the fear of regret is a powerful motivator.”
Hope he makes it back to the show, and if he does, I hope he plays in another All-Star game again. It will be okay with me, however, if he goes 0-4 against the Braves…
As a Met fan I appreciate his efforts in trying to come back but if you won’t be able to contribute as a player then what is the purpose. He will never be who he was plus all he will be doing is hurting himself more. Just saying.
If he doesn’t put in the effort the insurance doesn’t pay. He tries or there is no payment on the rest of his contract.
Guarantee that he would have no problem getting the doctors to declare him medically unable to play. Just like Prince Fielder. He would get his money.
I don’t think what Resident claims is accurate.
resident –
That’s news to me.
Please provide source.
I Never heard of such a thing and I strongly doubt anyone else here or elsewhere has. .
Until or unless you provide source, I’m going to assume this is conjecture or wishful thinking on your part rather than fact.
It’s contrary to everything published, posted, reported and discussed over the years on this topic.
Resident, even if you’re correct, “effort” is subjective. I’m quite certain that nothing says that he has to put forth “effort” through pain.
“Has no quit in him”
Oh please, he has 27 million reasons to not quit.
I really feel like he could get medical retirement clearance if he wanted it. Thus cashing his checks from home. But he seems to really want to play still
Right, why would he quit though? He has zero reason to. He only has until around age 40 to be a pro athlete so might as well keep trying and getting paid more money than any of us could ever dream of to even attempt to play baseball.
Sure. Could be about the money, but not entirely either. David has always been a gamer and willing to work harder than other players. Plus – for almost any athlete, your entire perception of yourself is as an athlete. It’s tough to admit you cant do it anymore especially you are still reasonably young.
justin-turner overdrive –
He gets the money no matter what.
And the money is partially Mets fans that are suckers. The balance is insurance money and the Wilpon’s pocket it all.
Dude baseball contracts are guaranteed. Prince Fielder is still collecting his checks.
Sadly the Mets continue to make mistakes that are apparent to everyone but them. Flores should be on an AL contender by now. There was zero market for Bruce – as with many FAs last year – and the Mets dramatically overpaid for him and he immediately said yes. Why is Reyes on the team? Really, so we can see a cameo with him and DWright in Sept? My gosh we are lost
You are lost John, unless you join the boycott and stop buying Mets tickets. How many years can you continue to believe the Wilpon ruse?
The Mets are clueless. Dom Smith has taken time at every level before he becomes a consistent hitter. Must be Jeff doesn’t like him just like he didn’t like Scott Kazmir.
Mets can’t be babying players. Once they up to the show, they must be ready from the first at bat.
Is the idea to make Flores more versatile? Or is the best 1B option for the Mets in 2019. Even if Smith has more upside he will not likely be a better hitter than Wilmer next year.
Plus Flores is a cheap (which is important to the Mets) proven option who gives them one more year get Smith or Alonso ready
That makes absolutely no sense. If the Coupons are being cheap, why wouldn’t they tell the GM(s) to sell off Flores and play Dom? The only logical explanation for keeping Flores is as a bench option. He’s versatile, sure, but he’s also one of the worst fielders at every single position he plays.
How do you expect Dom to become a better hitter than Flores? Keep him in hitter-friendly Vegas the rest of this year AGAIN against non-MLB talent? I thought the Mets plans were filled with incompetency and ridiculous ideas… but maybe they’re not the worst after all.
Watching Smith, he doesn’t look like starter nor in Mets plans. Seems to me he just assumed the hype would get him where he wants to be without applying himself unconditionally.
I guess we may as well have given up on Rosario and Conforto then. Dom literally has 80 games in the majors and is consistently up and down. How is he supposed to grow as a hitter like that? Conforto was decent his first time up for 56 games and then hit .220/.310/.414 in 109 games. Rosario has hit .244/.281/.370 through his first 167. I guess we may as well just label all 3 of them, as garbage AAAA guys at best, yeah? What kind of logic is that?
Relax Birchy. I was commenting on what the Mets plans might be for next year. I was literally asking if the Mets were thinking of starting Flores at first next year. Considering they thought Adrian Gonzalez was a legit option this year I put nothing past this team
Good luck, David. Genuinely would love to see him back. Might even make me happier than I was to see Venters make it back.
I’m sure it has nothing to do with the millions of dollars he’d lose if he quit……
He gets the money whether he plays or not.
But the Mets can not get the insurance money as long as he keeps trying to play
Wright should retire or ask to be paid out. He’s hurting his team by not playing and hogging all that money.
On the real though, none of us would retire leaving THAT much money on the table. Its not on the player, its on the team. Nobody can blame the guy for writing his name on that piece of paper
You realize he gets his money either way, right? And on the DL the team is reimbursed something like 75% of his salary, so what difference does it make? He tries…he gets paid. He quits he gets paid. He wants to play…let him. He’s not hurting anyone.
I’m sure Smith’s lazy attitude and lack of willingness to be in shape has much to do with the back-and-forth between Triple A and the majors. He looks to be a career backup at best. As for Bruce, the contract is dictating the edict of finding him a position for next year. It looks as if 1B may be the only spot for him next year based on current personnel.
Smith just looks sluggish and unprepared.
i think there’s no urgency to play him because he doesn’t look big league ready and definitely not as starter. He’s not even putting up good numbers in the minors anymore. I think it’s best to trade him for fresh start with another organization.
His lazy attitude and lack of willingness to be in shape got him to lose 30 lbs over the offseason.
The damage has been done choosing to be obese for years after signing… His weight hasn’t been the only issue. Correct me if I’m wrong, but tardiness and work ethic are others. I think he thought that talent alone would propel him to the majors and make him successful.
Don’t need Smith, have Peter Alfonso
Smith is a guy who I can see the Mets dfaing only to find success elsewhere.
Agreed. Smith will be the guy that 2 years from now will be hitting .270 with 20 hrs and playing a solid 1B for someone else like for Oakland or KC.
I take solace in knowing that Albert Puljos will likely be DFA’d in the next two years by the Angles and be manning 1B for the Mets.
If you want a preview of Alonso, just watch Bruce play 1B for the next few weeks, Alonso is a younger, cheaper version of him— low average power hitter that can’t field.