I'm rooting for a David Wright Comeback

[Centerfield]

I know everyone is down on Reyes, but I'm excited about these two lining up together again. The best shortstop in Mets history and the best third baseman in Mets history. It's fitting they bow out together.

2018 may have been a crap year, but it's also one where we saw four members of the Mets All-Time team play in one season.

1B Hernandez
2B Alfonso
SS Reyes
3B Wright
C Piazza
RF Strawberry
CF Beltran
LF McReynolds

SP Seaver
SP Gooden
SP deGrom
SP Koosman
SP Cone

RHRP Familia
LHRP Franco

Maybe Syndergaard and Conforto crack this team before all is said and done.

[Edgy MD]

seawolf17 wrote: Callaway announced that he will start Reyes at shortstop, alongside Wright, on Sept 29th. Memo to Terry.: Don't start a "ground ball" pitcher that day. Later You know Mattingly is going to have everyone bunting to the left side on every pitch.

Won't happen. Though I'd be delighted if it did.

[seawolf17]

Centerfield wrote: 2018 may have been a crap year, but it's also one where we saw four members of the Mets All-Time team play in one season. RHRP Familia

wait what

[seawolf17]

seawolf17 wrote: Centerfield wrote: 2018 may have been a crap year, but it's also one where we saw four members of the Mets All-Time team play in one season. RHRP Familia

Actually, upon further review, you might be right.

[seawolf17]

Name	S	C	F	Yrs	From	To	ASG	W	L	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	BF	ERA+
Jeurys Familia	S	-	-	7	2012	2018	1	13	17	2.66	313	1	199	0	0	123	321.1	260	107	95	14	129	17	329	1337	143
Armando Benitez	-	-	-	5	1999	2003	1	18	14	2.70	333	0	266	0	0	160	347	225	111	104	39	168	13	456	1420	159
Skip Lockwood	-	-	-	5	1975	1979	0	24	36	2.80	227	0	164	0	0	65	379.2	288	123	118	27	135	35	368	1529	126
Bob Apodaca	S	C	F	5	1973	1977	0	16	25	2.86	184	11	108	1	0	26	361.1	312	138	115	22	131	41	197	1505	123
Ron Taylor	-	-	-	5	1967	1971	0	21	21	3.04	269	0	184	0	0	50	361	321	127	122	24	92	45	197	1460	115
Jeff Innis	S	C	F	7	1987	1993	0	10	20	3.05	288	1	126	0	0	5	360	337	141	122	22	121	27	192	1507	120
Danny Frisella	S	-	-	6	1967	1972	0	24	26	3.08	158	16	92	0	0	24	353	317	141	121	30	137	26	296	1495	113
Doug Sisk	S	-	-	6	1982	1987	0	17	16	3.10	263	0	128	0	0	33	412.1	396	180	142	11	210	25	163	1802	117
Terry Leach	S	-	-	7	1981	1989	0	24	9	3.11	176	18	52	3	3	7	387.2	372	152	134	27	104	18	194	1608	115
Roger McDowell	S	-	-	5	1985	1989	0	33	29	3.13	280	2	189	0	0	84	468.1	424	184	163	22	154	27	228	1958	112
Turk Wendell	-	-	-	5	1997	2001	0	22	14	3.34	285	0	65	0	0	10	312.2	259	125	116	33	147	31	259	1328	130
Neil Allen	S	-	-	5	1979	1983	0	25	40	3.54	223	9	160	1	1	69	381.2	373	166	150	26	179	40	285	1649	102

[Ceetar]

Looks like Benitez to me.

[Vic Sage]

1B Hernandez 2B Alfonso SS Reyes 3B Wright C Piazza RF Strawberry CF Beltran LF [crossout]McReynolds[/crossout] Jones SP Seaver SP Gooden SP deGrom SP Koosman SP Cone RHRP [crossout]Familia[/crossout] Benitez LHRP Franco

There, CF, i fixed it for you.

[batmagadanleadoff]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: Unfair? Wright's one of about 1,000 people that got to play MLB every year, this out of a US population of over 320 million. When his contract is fully paid out, he'll have made over $200M from baseball. And he's not even 36 years old. He'll go down as the greatest position player in Mets history. Unfair? Talk to Bobby Valentine, a can't miss superstar phenom who destroyed his leg early in his career and was essentially a mediocre scrub the rest of the way. If Wright had the same career but was born 25 years earlier, all of his baseball money would be long gone by now and he'd have to work. To make a microscopic fraction of the money he's going to retire with. Talk to Johnny Bench and Mike Schmidt about that, players way better than David Wright. Unfair? David Wright wouldn't trade places with any one of us. It isn't unfair to him, it's unfair to us. He was on his way to a HOF career if injuries didn't start debilitating him after he turned 30. How much we would have loved seeing a Met position player play his whole career here and then go to Cooperstown? WE're still waiting for that. It's still not unfair. That's all built-in. No one has a right or an expectation to make the HOF. The odds are extremely miniscule for everybody and the road is paved with all kinds of pitfalls and obstacles, injuries being the main one and the most common. I could type you a list of derailed HOF'ers but my wrist would start to hurt before I'm even close to finishing it.

Hey Vic: I was re-reading this exchange. I'm more in agreement with you than you probably think I am. I just think "unfair" is the wrong word. If anything, I think Wright's closer to being the luckiest man on the face of the earth than anything else.

Here's a link to the top 10 moments of Wright's career, according to MLB.com, with accompanying videos.



https://www.mlb.com/news/top-10-moments-of-david-wrights-mets-career/c-294906814

[Ceetar]

But it's like how we call Jose Reyes a terrible baseball player when he's still in the 1% of the 1%..

[Centerfield]

Vic Sage wrote: 1B Hernandez 2B Alfonso SS Reyes 3B Wright C Piazza RF Strawberry CF Beltran LF [crossout]McReynolds[/crossout] Jones SP Seaver SP Gooden SP deGrom SP Koosman SP Cone RHRP [crossout]Familia[/crossout] Benitez LHRP Franco There, CF, i fixed it for you.

Yeah. I think you can go either way with both choices.

Cleon played longer, has the edge in WAR, but McReynolds put up better yearly numbers. For me, the 46 point difference in OPS swung me to McReynolds. WS ring notwithstanding.

For the RH closer, kinda went with feelings on this. Benitez maybe has a slight edge with the numbers, but if I had a 1 run lead, and both were warm, I'm calling Familia.

Unless it's Game 1 of the World Series, then both of them can sit down.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Remember in 2012, when the Mets issued season tickets that featured a different Met for every single game? Those tickets were in celebration of the Mets 50th anniversary season.

[fimg=633:25arz46t]https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/-e0AAOSwV0RXrnVq/s-l1600.jpg[/fimg:25arz46t]

Anyways, among the 81 Mets featured on those tickets was reliever Turk Wendell. Armando didn't get a ticket. From now on, maybe I'm gonna call him Armando Dangerfield.

[Guest d'Kong76]

If anyone is collecting a set of those tickets, I'd be happy to
contribute to the completionist cause.

I have:

Wright 1
Darling 1
Agee 1
Knight 1
Viola 2
Franco 2
Jackson 2
Harrelson 2

[Vic Sage]

WS ring notwithstanding.

a world series ring withstands everything.
And K-Mac can suck my dick.

[seawolf17]

I'm the biggest McReynolds fan here, and I can objectively say that Cleon is above him on the all-time LF list. Maybe not far above, but above.

[Gwreck]

Centerfield wrote: SP Seaver SP Gooden SP deGrom SP Koosman SP Cone

Al Leiter over Cone. And it's not particularly close.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Every David Wright Topps Base Set Card

]]


Every David Wright Topps Heritage Base Set Card

[batmagadanleadoff]

Odds and Sods -- 2004-2009

]

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

So, I was convinced given the way they made sure to orchestrate the final DW appearance that he was *supposed to have* hit a long home run and not pop out in that last turn.

I'm kinda glad that didn't happen.

[Ceetar]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: So, I was convinced given the way they made sure to orchestrate the final DW appearance that he was *supposed to have* hit a long home run and not pop out in that last turn. I'm kinda glad that didn't happen.

I kinda wish they'd Pinch Hit him every day that week so he had some semblance of timing for his last game.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Well maybe. But was it a grooved fb he just missed? I wouldn't know enough to recognize myself.

[seawolf17]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Well maybe. But was it a grooved fb he just missed? I wouldn't know enough to recognize myself.

I thought it was weird that he reached for the first pitch he saw. Gotta take one, there, DW.

[Ceetar]

seawolf17 wrote: John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Well maybe. But was it a grooved fb he just missed? I wouldn't know enough to recognize myself. I thought it was weird that he reached for the first pitch he saw. Gotta take one, there, DW.

That pitch appears to be a middle-down 97 mph fastball. Looks like he historically hits .366 in that zone. .340 on fastballs. Homered on 4 of the 79 fastballs he put in play there. (These numbers seem wrong/low)

The popup was a 92 MPH fastball up and away, in the zone. He's homered on 10/95 balls in play in that location, one of his best spots for home runs, only the 2/11 down and in off the plate (2/11) is higher.

[seawolf17]

Ceetar wrote: seawolf17 wrote: John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Well maybe. But was it a grooved fb he just missed? I wouldn't know enough to recognize myself. I thought it was weird that he reached for the first pitch he saw. Gotta take one, there, DW. That pitch appears to be a middle-down 97 mph fastball. Looks like he historically hits .366 in that zone. .340 on fastballs. Homered on 4 of the 79 fastballs he put in play there. (These numbers seem wrong/low) The popup was a 92 MPH fastball up and away, in the zone. He's homered on 10/95 balls in play in that location, one of his best spots for home runs, only the 2/11 down and in off the plate (2/11) is higher.

I'm just saying, take a pitch and give the dust a chance to settle.

Of course, if he *had* homered on that first pitch, we'd still be giving him a standing ovation, crying the whole time, three days later.

[Frayed Knot]

seawolf17 wrote: Of course, if he *had* homered on that first pitch, we'd still be giving him a standing ovation, crying the whole time, three days later.

And would have convinced ourselves that he could still play next year.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, I thought he swung when he should have swung in his few plate appearances. Showed good pitch recognition. It just didn't happen, but he was clearly as ready to play as he was going to be, and that's to his credit.

[Centerfield]

Ok. I've had a chance to let things settle and I'm still kind of annoyed about the way this was handled. I mean, I get that his body is still hurting badly, and I don't know how much he was able to handle, but he played several rehab games in a row. I don't think there's much question that he could have been active these last few weeks. And I think if there was no such thing as insurance, the Wilpons would have been pushing him to be active as much as possible.

I don't know. I think he definitely could have pinch hit in several games. Could have started several more and come out after 5. Get 20-30 AB's. He would have probably gotten a hit, and maybe even run into one and gotten to take a lap around the bases.

Maybe I'm being unrealistic. I was hoping he'd hit 11 HR's before they pulled him on Saturday.

[Ceetar]

They saved what? a million by not activating him 9/1? It's junk change.

He played two rehab games in a row and I think only 9 innings of those once? I see no reason to doubt his press conference about the agony and pain and his body. Hell, even in the post-Saturday talks he was joking about how he was hoping it WOULDN'T be hit to him. He never sounded ready.

But he was with the team. I would've liked to see them activate him and let him pinch hit occasionally. For whatever reason they wanted to pretend, a team that employs Tim Tebow, that doing so would've made a farce of the game. That's why they waited until the last home stand, so all his appearances would be in front of the home crowd, and didn't play him against the 'in it' Braves.

I don't understand why they didn't announce/plan all this on 9/1 though. Why the two weeks of pretend and lying? (the media, if they cared, could've sussed some of this out. When did they call Cuddyer? Floyd? etc?) He might not have been up to major league speed, but is timing had to be roughly okay after the rehab, and I'm sure he lost most of that in the three weeks before he faced live pitching again. There had to be something from David in those simulated games and such. Just a physical drain that he couldn't handle. I wonder WHEN (again, something I haven't seen asked/answered) he decided that this was it. Maybe there was still a glimmer of hope in him in early September and he just couldn't keep up?

[metsmarathon]

based on how he was talking to gary and keith, i think he himself didn't feel prepared enough to face major league pitching, at least not consistently. he himself said that his appearances were more of an honorific than something he had actually achieved through successful rehab. and i guess i don't think david would have been on board with making a string of shitty, painful at bats over the course of a few weeks. respect for the game and all that.

i think that if david felt he was able to play, he would have played more. and the wilpons would have played him more just to pack the house.

i don't think he could have taken another at bat on saturday, let alone taken more at bats in the days leading up to it. it looked to me like his body just wouldn't let him.

[Edgy MD]

I imagine part of the thinking with the lack of appearances before his start is that they consider him fragile and didn't want him hurting himself before his tribute game.

Also, if it takes a lot of prep work just to get loose enough to pinch-hit, maybe he just didn't have it in him.

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: I imagine part of the thinking with the lack of appearances before his start is that they consider him fragile and didn't want him hurting himself before his tribute game. Also, if it takes a lot of prep work just to get loose enough to pinch-hit, maybe he just didn't have it in him.

yeah. just levels and levels of sad.

He did take batting practice with the team most days I thought though, but that's still different than live pitching.

It kinda sounds like a lot of the silence about what was going to happen was just him really coming to terms with it all.