Give kudos to the New York Mets.
For the first time in several years they are going to make an effort to try to keep one of their more productive stars on the ball club.
After years of embarrassment and total buffoonery by ownership, the Mets are rumored to by offering third baseman David Wright a lucrative eight-year $137 million contract to remain with the Mets for the rest of his baseball playing career.
The contract would make Wright the highest paid player in Mets history if he indeeds signs it.
The question though, should Wright sign the contract?
If David Wright puts pen to paper then Sandy Alderson must have done a yeoman's job of convincing Wright that the Mets are willing and able to make moves to become a contending team rather than the inept-average bunch of losers the club has become the past five years.
He will have to be assured that the Mets are going to surround him with legitimate major league players who can make plays. That means building a winner the way Omar Minaya tried to do in 2004-2006 when he added big ticket free agents like Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran to fill out the roster. While those moves put the Mets into salary cap hell at the end of the decade; if the Mets spend wisely this time around, they can avoid the avalanche that ate up Minaya in 2009.
While the Mets have some guys who might be nice bench players or a starter here and there who can slip into the four or five slot in a loaded pitching rotation -- it is not enough talent to make the Mets competitive in the near future.
Wright is the lone star on a band of misfits.
I find it dubious if Wright, who turns 30 next season, wants to play one more year let alone eight more years surrounded by fringe major league players. He is going to need to have legit/productive players around him for the Mets to be a true success. He is going to need real talent around him if he wants to truly be the "Chipper Jones" of the Mets and remain with the franchise his whole career.
That also means Wright has to have a promise from Fred and Jeff Wilpon that they indeed have the money to spend on this team. Sterling-Mets Equities lost millions of dollars in the Bernie Madoff scandal that rocked the team for three-years. While the Wilpon's avoided the ultimate indignity of fines and penalties in the courtroom, they have not won any battles in the courtroom of public perception.
The Mets financial problems not only resulted in losses over Madoff, but it hurt the product on the field, as they refused to infuse any money on the franchise -- citing that they were waiting for bad contract to come off. As a result, the team underachieved, they lost their other top talent Jose Reyes to free agency, and watched the gate hemorrhage money.
Therefore, I'll believe it when I see it. If Wright and his agent are smart, they won't sign a deal this off-season, allowing Wright to test the free agent waters in 2013-2014 when he could find out what his value is on the open market, and find a team that is ready to win immediately.
While loyalty is honorable, all baseball fans know loyalty only goes so far in this business. If there was such a thing as loyalty Albert Puljos would not have left the St. Louis Cardinals, a team he won two World Series' with, for a new deal with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Eventually, Wright is going to want to win a world championship. Right now the Mets are not even close to sniffing they wild card. With the way free agency looks this year and next, and considering the talent that is currently on the Mets roster, New York (barring a substantial change of fortune) may not eve sniff serious October baseball for at least two more years.
Only then will Wright's loyalty be tested. If the Mets are still struggling and Wright is approaching 33 years-old, he is going to want to be sent to a winner. That is just the way the business works.
So in order to make sure that Wright remain happy for the near and long term, the Wilpons have to open up their purse-strings, get past the Madoff mess, and begin to spend on this baseball team once again.
The Mets need David Wright. He is the face of the franchise; the true leader of the new generation of Metropolitans that the star-crossed franchise hopes can get back to the promise land. The Mets have to get this deal done.
Then, almost immediately, the only way to make the David Wright extension a true success for not only Wright, the Mets and their heart-broken fan base, is for the Mets to back up the move with an eye toward October.
After years of embarrassment and total buffoonery by ownership, the Mets are rumored to by offering third baseman David Wright a lucrative eight-year $137 million contract to remain with the Mets for the rest of his baseball playing career.
The contract would make Wright the highest paid player in Mets history if he indeeds signs it.
The question though, should Wright sign the contract?
If David Wright puts pen to paper then Sandy Alderson must have done a yeoman's job of convincing Wright that the Mets are willing and able to make moves to become a contending team rather than the inept-average bunch of losers the club has become the past five years.
He will have to be assured that the Mets are going to surround him with legitimate major league players who can make plays. That means building a winner the way Omar Minaya tried to do in 2004-2006 when he added big ticket free agents like Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran to fill out the roster. While those moves put the Mets into salary cap hell at the end of the decade; if the Mets spend wisely this time around, they can avoid the avalanche that ate up Minaya in 2009.
While the Mets have some guys who might be nice bench players or a starter here and there who can slip into the four or five slot in a loaded pitching rotation -- it is not enough talent to make the Mets competitive in the near future.
Wright is the lone star on a band of misfits.
I find it dubious if Wright, who turns 30 next season, wants to play one more year let alone eight more years surrounded by fringe major league players. He is going to need to have legit/productive players around him for the Mets to be a true success. He is going to need real talent around him if he wants to truly be the "Chipper Jones" of the Mets and remain with the franchise his whole career.
That also means Wright has to have a promise from Fred and Jeff Wilpon that they indeed have the money to spend on this team. Sterling-Mets Equities lost millions of dollars in the Bernie Madoff scandal that rocked the team for three-years. While the Wilpon's avoided the ultimate indignity of fines and penalties in the courtroom, they have not won any battles in the courtroom of public perception.
The Mets financial problems not only resulted in losses over Madoff, but it hurt the product on the field, as they refused to infuse any money on the franchise -- citing that they were waiting for bad contract to come off. As a result, the team underachieved, they lost their other top talent Jose Reyes to free agency, and watched the gate hemorrhage money.
Therefore, I'll believe it when I see it. If Wright and his agent are smart, they won't sign a deal this off-season, allowing Wright to test the free agent waters in 2013-2014 when he could find out what his value is on the open market, and find a team that is ready to win immediately.While loyalty is honorable, all baseball fans know loyalty only goes so far in this business. If there was such a thing as loyalty Albert Puljos would not have left the St. Louis Cardinals, a team he won two World Series' with, for a new deal with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Eventually, Wright is going to want to win a world championship. Right now the Mets are not even close to sniffing they wild card. With the way free agency looks this year and next, and considering the talent that is currently on the Mets roster, New York (barring a substantial change of fortune) may not eve sniff serious October baseball for at least two more years.
Only then will Wright's loyalty be tested. If the Mets are still struggling and Wright is approaching 33 years-old, he is going to want to be sent to a winner. That is just the way the business works.
So in order to make sure that Wright remain happy for the near and long term, the Wilpons have to open up their purse-strings, get past the Madoff mess, and begin to spend on this baseball team once again.
The Mets need David Wright. He is the face of the franchise; the true leader of the new generation of Metropolitans that the star-crossed franchise hopes can get back to the promise land. The Mets have to get this deal done.
Then, almost immediately, the only way to make the David Wright extension a true success for not only Wright, the Mets and their heart-broken fan base, is for the Mets to back up the move with an eye toward October.
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