Displaying items by tag: David Wright

So now that Francisco Lindor has officially been named the next captain of the New York Mets by Yahoo!, we can also bid adieu to Pete Alonso at the end of the season. Now, of course, it really didn't happen as reported by Yahoo!, but if it did, it would be the end of Alonso's tenure with the Mets.

Now I loved Lindor before he even became a Met. And I was ecstatic when they got him, and extended him with a hefty contract. And he’s my favorite Met.

But I don’t believe that he should, at this time, be named captain of the New York Mets. The timing would seem to indicate that there is a definitive mindset with regard to Alonso and his place on this team.

And what good is naming a captain going to do anyway? A leader leads. That’s it. At this point, given the changes in the dynamics of the game and how players behave and how they are treated, and the various roles in the clubhouse and how they have evolved over the years, the “role” of captain is truly meaningless. It’s an honorary status bestowed upon someone who is believed to be deserving of such reverence.

Every so often, someone special comes along. Someone that just makes you smile. Someone that you can look at and say, “Now THERE’S a good kid.” The Seattle Mariners had Junior Griffey. The Yankees, of course, had Derek Jeter. The Mets…well…they have had David Wright.

David Wright has been everything the Mets could have asked for. He has been everything the Mets FANS could have asked for. He was dubbed “Captain America” after captivating an audience on the world stage with his game-winning exploits during the World Baseball Classic.

With the Mets, he has grabbed just about every significant offensive record. His stats, during his prime, were worthy of Hall of Fame consideration, if only he were able to maintain his health. And that was what failed him. Sometimes the mind is willing, but the body just won’t cooperate.

Spring is in the air. It has to be. Baseball is back. Well…it is in Florida and Arizona. I am sitting in NYC where it is 27 degrees and windy…conditions that beg to ask the question as to why I ever left South Florida.

Football may have the “Monday Morning Quarterback” but the banter around baseball is omni-present. And while it IS enjoyable to hear, read, and enjoy the diatribe, it is also amusing to encounter the absurd. Not all fans are educated about the game. That is crystal clear. But seeing some of the ideas spewed out there is almost cringe-worthy. Spring training is well underway and so is the absurdity.

I just noticed a post on Facebook that calls for the Mets to sign Brett Lawrie to play third base now that David Wright’s status is questionable. What is WRONG with people? What is this person thinking?

While it seems like the season has just begun, the first month is already in the books. And while it’s still way too early on in a long baseball season, as we learned last year, there appear to be some clear indications of what lays ahead for the 2016 Mets.

Let’s take a look at some of the takeaways from the first month: 

You would think that after the Mets made it all the way to the World Series in 2015 that the fan base would be somewhat satisfied and have some faith in Mets management and General Manager Sandy Alderson. After all, after taking hit after hit in the media and on every fan blog across the internet, Alderson proved to be correct when he said that the team would be playing meaningful baseball late in the season. None of the so-called experts picked the Mets to finish with a record of over .500...let alone get to the World Series. Oh ye have little faith.

And now the talk is, as always, about how cheap the front office is and that they refuse to spend any money. The fact is...the Mets HAVE shown a WILLINGNESS to spend money...and they HAVE spent money.

The big question is: "Why DID the Mets lose the World Series?" The truth is that the tone was set on the very first pitch thrown by Matt Harvey.

The Royals' Alcides Escobar lofted a long fly ball to left centerfield. Yoenis Cespedes, who had made so many spectacular defensive plays since coming over to the Mets, took his eye off the ball for a split second, could not regroup in time, and had the ball glance off his glove, and then, to make matters worse, kicked it away from both he and leftfielder Michael Conforto. What should have been a fly ball out to the warning track was a bad error...ridiculously ruled an inside-the-park home run.

While ONE play never TRULY determines the outcome of a series, unless it is a "walk-off" occurence in the final inning of the last possible game, it can set an example for how things will essentially go. And it did.

Well...the Mets needed to make a statement. And Noah Syndergaard did just that. With his first pitch he put Alcides Escobar right on his ass. Regardless of what the outcome was going to be, Thor made it known that the Royals hitters were not going to be so comfortable. And although he had a few hiccups, Syndergaard was able to put the Royals hitters away when he needed to most. And there were a LOT of broken bats flying around everywhere.

And for all of the idiots talking about benching David Wright in favor of Juan Uribe, Captain America made a statement of his own, launching a two-run bomb in the bottom of the first inning to give the Mets a 2-1 lead. And let's not leave Uribe out of it. After being idle for over a month and not even being on the post season roster for the NLDS and NLCS, he made his first appearance and shot a run-scoring single to the opposite field in the midst of the Mets four-run outburst in the sixth inning. 

Listening to sports talk radio drives me crazy. I actually did sports talk radio so I have been on the other side of it. And quite often I just tune in to listen to WFAN to see what people have to say...most of the time...it's just to pass the time...or better yet...distract me when I am in the car sitting in the god forsaken traffic.

Anyway...it just cracked me up when I heard a caller...who is apparently a regular...say that David Wright, the captain of the Mets...the face of the franchise...the Derek Jeter of Queens...the guy who re-upped with the organization instead of taking a lot more money and going elsewhere...the poor soul who is dealing with a debilitating back issue that he has to prep hours for each day just to put his shoes on...should be benched to get Juan Uribe into the lineup.

The Mets announced that they will, at times, be sporting their "racing stripe" uniforms in honor of the 30th Anniversary of the 1986 World Series Championship team. I have always had a fascination with the Mets uniforms and to be quite honest, I absolutely hated those uniforms. The home uniforms were bad enough, but the road uniforms had a weird block lettering and then a silly looking script. Heck, Keith Hernandez has so often made his opinion of those uniforms known during broadcasts, calling them "hideous." I am a traditionalist, and although I liked the brief appearance of the blue and orange piping on the sleeves during the Lee Mazzilli era in the late seventies, early eighties, I am truly partial to the traditional home uniforms. But my favorite is the traditional away jerseys with the tiffany style lettering on the front and the full block numbers on the front and back.

And uniform numbers worn by the players always seemed to pique my interest. I am sure most people can be presented with a number and immediately associate it with a specific Mets player. In fact, sometimes you see a number on a player’s back and you either love the player or simply the way the number looks and all of a sudden that becomes YOUR number.

The beautiful thing about the game of baseball is that anything can happen on any given day or any given night. It was an unexpected and welcome surprise that, after Mets starters got shelled the first two games in Colorado, along comes Logan Verrett who throws a gem and makes everyone forget that it was supposed to be Matt Harvey out there. And then when you see that the Mets are waltzing into Philadelphia to take on the last place Phillies with Jacob deGrom on the mound, you would think, no, you would truly believe that the Mets would be focusing on the return of their captain David Wright and nothing else.