2013 IPP: David Wright

[Benjamin Grimm]

One or two sizzling hot streaks. One prolonged slump. Overall, .295, 25 homers, 38 doubles, 95 rbi.

The "Captain America" nickname will fade, to be replaced by "Man Thing."

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Gets outfitted in a dumb uni with a C on the front. Reps the Mets at the ASG. Legend grows. Wins Schaefer. Invites us to offseason wedding.

Hits 27-97 298/377/477

[Edgy MD]

It seems hard to hit .297 and smash 27 homers and not slug .500, so I'll go a little more generous in that column.

.303 / .415 / .522 //.937

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Yeah I don't do slugging in my head. 515 it is

[metirish]

Daivid will say all the right things and have a line similar to this .307 - 32 HR - 116 RBI - 44 doubles - 98 SO - 12 aw shucks

[Benjamin Grimm]

He's looking good to pass Mike Piazza this year on the all-time Mets home run list, the one most prestigious team batting record he doesn't yet hold. A good season will leave him poised to pass Darryl Strawberry some time next year.

Players with more than 200 Home Runs
1. Darryl Strawberry 252
2. Mike Piazza 220
3. David Wright 204

[Vic Sage]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: One or two sizzling hot streaks. One prolonged slump. Overall, .295, 25 homers, 38 doubles, 95 rbi. The "Captain America" nickname will fade, to be replaced by "Man Thing."

And not just "man-thing"... GIANT-SIZE Man-Thing! You would have thought SOMEBODY on the editorial staff -- Roy Thomas, Steve gerber, Mike Conway, somebody -- would have raised their hand and said "um, i don't think we really want to call our comic `big dick'". But no, it slid right on through. Somehow i think it must've been Gerber's doing.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

The WBC performance bodes well. The intercostal issue, apparently sustained during light weightlifting does not, and-- maybe it's just me-- reminds me of two years back's back. I'm not SO bullish.

569 PAs, .289/.370/.488, 82 R, 22 HR, 83 RBI, 45 XBH

[ashie62]

Not much around him but...

24 HR 98 RBI BA .293 Steals decline to 11

two 15 day d/l's

[Zvon]

Has an excellent, healthy year. Becomes team captain and chooses not to wear the "C" because he says its "too gawdy". He does, however, insist on wearing this cap during games.


The "Captain America" nickname will stick until Grimms nickname goes viral a few weeks into the season (Dave starts hot) and we are forced to combine the two nicknames in a number of various ways.



It took me 4 hours to make the Capt America Wright image so you will be seeing it until it makes you sick.

[Guest themetfairy]

Nice work Zvon!

[MFS62]

He was officially named Captain by Terry on SNY today. I tuned in during his presser, thought it might have been a re-run of an old one. But then they ran it as a scroll (like current stuff) at the bottom of the screen.

Oh, David:
.294 - 28 - 103.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

I like that this has Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, plus a little bit of Willard Mullin in it.


P.S. I'm pretty sure my father illustrated some of the GSMT stuff way back when.

[Zvon]

Frayed Knot wrote: P.S. I'm pretty sure my father illustrated some of the GSMT stuff way back when.

That's way kool! Please tell us more about your dad. I always thought working in comics would be a blast.

TY Sharon:)

[Edgy MD]

Here come the Mets fielders!

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Ladies and gentlemen, and Mets fans of all ages, please give a warm Opening Day welcome to... the 2013 Mets training staff!

[Guest Mets Guy in Michigan]

Frayed Knot wrote: I like that this has Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, plus a little bit of Willard Mullin in it. P.S. I'm pretty sure my father illustrated some of the GSMT stuff way back when.

Loving this!

Can hardly wait for some Captain America Kabooms to start!

.315, 31 HR, 115 rbi, all-star starter and some MVP votes. Plus, a glorious walk-off pop fly/homer off the retiring cyborg closer at MFYSIII.

[Zvon]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Ladies and gentlemen, and Mets fans of all ages, please give a warm Opening Day welcome to... the 2013 Mets training staff!

lol. I was thinking the entire medical staff.

When I googled Giant Size Man Thing to make the Wright stuff I was surprised at the amount of GIANT SIZE titles. I was somewhat into comics as a kid but don't remember seeing any of them. Or Man Thing, for that matter. I thought GIANT SIZE was part of his actual name, but now I'll assume that it was just a comic with more pages than regular size.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I once wrote here that if the Mets primary goal in re-signing David Wright was to compete for the crown, then the signing was a bad move. I thought, and still do, that by the time the Mets field a team that, at least on paper, could win 85+ games, Wright will be significantly less than the player he is today. Whatever.

Regrets? Might Capt. America have a few?
June, 10, 2013
By Adam Rubin | ESPNNewYork.com

NEW YORK -- Was David Wright hoodwinked? And what must he really be thinking now? Before Wright signed his eight-year, $138 million contract with the Mets in December, Sandy Alderson visited the third baseman in his native Norfolk, Va., to convince him the organization had a sound plan to return to contention. It is quite apparent now that things are going to take longer than intended, as Jeff Wilpon acknowledged to the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin last week. David Wright re-upped for this? Said Wilpon: �You can�t just say it�s not going as fast as we want -- �We�re six months behind, two months behind,� whatever it might be. You�ve got to let the plan go all the way down the line. If you�re going to buy into something, you got to buy into it. You can�t change midstream, because if you�re constantly changing, there�s no chance you�re going to succeed. � I think we�re definitely happy with the plan and the direction we�re going. Is it happening as fast as anybody wants? No.� Wright is loyal to a fault. And probably a bit na�ve. So he may very well still believe. Yet at 30 years old, the organization indisputably is wasting his prime years. Still, there is a case to be made, if you want to be glass-half-full like Wright appears to be, that the mid-range horizon is OK. The Mets may be able to form a solid young rotation with Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, Jonathon Niese, Noah Syndergaard and Rafael Montero within a couple of years. And with Johan Santana, Jason Bay, Frank Francisco, John Buck and Shaun Marcum among the players coming off the books, the Mets will not be saddled with bad contracts going forward. Only Wright and Jonathon Niese have deals of any length. Wright has been sold that the minor league system will start spitting out players, so he is living with the now for the promise of better days to come. It�s worth noting that not everyone is as bullish as the Mets are on their future. One NL executive told ESPNNewYork.com after Sunday�s mass demotions: �The farm system falls off after the top three. Long term, the Braves and Marlins are better positioned. Maybe even the Phillies.� Wright, for his part, consistently has said he has no regrets. �Any time you go through the stretches -- I guess a couple of stretches -- that we�ve been through this year, it�s frustrating,� Wright said. �It�s obviously disappointing. We knew we had our work cut out for us. We knew that it was going to be challenging. But I think that, needless to say, we�ve underperformed. It�s execution. We�re not executing on a number of different levels, a number of different areas of the game. It�s not one glaring area that you say, �Hey, we fix this, we get things turned around.� � �I always want to win. It doesn�t matter if it�s when I was 21 years old, now 30, or as I get older. You want to win. So it�s always frustrating when you lose.�

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/69134/captain-america-cant-carry-mets-yet-no-regrets

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I guess I missed the whole Jeff Wilpon Bingo thing, but if he's going to be asked about what's gone wrong that's exactly the answer I want to hear him give. It's hardly a hook for criticism, unless you're Sour Apple Rubin.

[batmagadanleadoff]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I guess I missed the whole Jeff Wilpon Bingo thing, but if he's going to be asked about what's gone wrong that's exactly the answer I want to hear him give. It's hardly a hook for criticism, unless you're Sour Apple Rubin.

Jeff's Wilpon's comment is funny, ironical funny, even if technically correct, 'cause it's the exact opposite of what the Mets wre doing this entire century. Probably because of Jeff. The have patience and stick to a plan plan has to be Team Sandy's.

[Edgy MD]

What only just barely learning from Sandy is to deflect questions by asking them to himself out loud, as he does at the end.

"Is it happening as fast as anybody wants? No.�

Bam! Sandifirffic. Sandy, though, would have pounded through the whole statement that way.

�Can you just say it�s not going as fast as we want? No. You�ve got to let the plan go all the way down the line. If you�re going to buy into something, do you got to buy into it? Yes, you got to buy into it. Can you change midstream? Absolutely not, because if you�re constantly changing, there�s no chance you�re going to succeed. Are we going to constantly change? I would conclude we are not. Are we happy with the plan and the direction we�re going? Absolutely. Is it happening as fast as anybody wants? No. Should we have bought Jose Reyes some chocolates? Maybe. Would it have made a difference? I don't think so, but I regret it at a personal level.�

Anticipate the reporters next five questions and two or three he never would have asked in 100 years. Leave the reporter boggled. Control, control, control.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

One thing almost nobody seems to get is that Sandy/Terry/DePo is like a team of turnaround experts installed at a company at the behest of an activist shareholder or impatient lender. I don't think Jeff has much of a choice in the matter but to his credit so far he appears to also understand it's his best and only way out.

[ashie62]

That is a fair analogy... But why bother..

I would think Jeff would sleep better at night having sold the Mets to the highest bidder..He turns a nice profit from the cost of purchase and moves on to a new toy....

[Edgy MD]

Because it's worth understanding what is actually going on, and folks aren't getting enough of a realistic representation of it. Good journalism.