Actually I'm a little surprised David Wright reneged on an interview with Mike Francesa last Friday but I'm kind of glad he did.
Since last September, Francesa, the pompous radio sports talk show host on WFAN in New York, lambasted Wright for the Mets failure to make the post season. Francesa's contention is that Wright hit terribly in the clutch during the last week of the season. Mike's solution was that a breakup of the core group of players was necessary for the Mets to move forward. He said many times that trading Wright should be considered.
I was outraged at the time of such a suggestion. David Wright is one of the best players ever produced from the Mets farm system. Take a look at his numbers. Since 2005, his first full year in the majors, Wright has averaged better than 112 runs batted in, 29 home runs, scored 106 runs, 81.5 walks, and 21.5 stolen bases. His OBP/SLG/AVG for his career is .389/.533/.309. David Wright is one of the best offensive players in baseball. How do you replace such a talented third baseman given the fact he is just 26 years old entering his prime?
Defensively, no one works harder at his position than David does. He has improved so much from his rookie season that he has won the NL gold glove at third the past two seasons. Only a couple of years ago, Mike Francesa made the claim that Wright would eventually have to move to first, that his glove would hurt the Mets at third. As usual, Francesa was way off the mark.
Francesa's argument last October was that Wright was unable to get the big hit when the pressure was on. There is truth in what he is saying but how much of hitting in the clutch is what caused the Mets to stumble the last couple of years. David Wright himself said that he did struggle and knows he must stay within himself in the future. But was he really the reason the Mets lost last year? We all know the answer to that is not true.
Baseball Prospectus, likely the best source for baseball statistical analysis, gives David a VORP score of 66.1. VORP is Value Over Replacement Player which means the number of runs contributed over a replacement level player at the same position given the same percentage of team at bats. Wright's score is the highest on the team. Matt Holliday, who Francesa felt might be a better alternative for the Mets has a lower VORP of 61.7. Prospectus also gives Wright an EQA (Equivalent Average) score of .319. EQA includes base running as well as average to determine the player's overall importance to a team's lineup. Wright leads the Mets with an EQA .319. The league average is .260.
The 2009 Baseball Prospectus edition makes a clear and decisive point that the bullpen was indeed the culprit in regards to the Mets 2008 disappointing finish. And they point out that even though the offense sputtered at the end, the bullpen had sewn the Mets fate for most of the season. The Mets would not have even been relevant the last weekend of the season had David not produced the numbers he did.
The point is, unlike Mr. Francesa who discounts the first 150 ballgames, Baseball Prospective mathematically concludes that all games are important. Had the Mets pen saved just a couple more games, the Mets would have made the playoffs. Then bashing Wright would have never been an issue.
But instead of pointing out the glaring weakness of the Mets bullpen, Francesa, who Don Imus once referred to as the sports doctor, chose to focus on David Wright as the prime culprit. And while David admittedly struggled at the end, the pressure was mostly from within. Wright is not frightened of succeeding in New York. He has plenty of clutch hits over his career to prove that.
Regardless, Wright should have went on the show. And I bet in retrospect, he regrets not doing so. I'm a bit surprised at David's thin skin but if anyone deserved to be stood up, it's Mike Francesa. I have a strong suspicion that if Wright were wearing navy blue pin stripes instead of royal blue, the issue of choking would not have come up. Over the years Francesa has demonstrated when it comes to the Mets, the glass is half empty but it is always half full when his beloved Yankees are the subject. Now in fairness, Mike has been very hard on Alex Rodriguez but who hasn't. But for some reason, Mike has a vendetta out on Wright and even the Mets.
Another thing that gets me is how Francesa contends that not getting an everyday player this winter will haunt the Mets. His argument is that you cannot expect the regular lineup to have the same performance they had last season. Then in another breath he'll assume that Luis Casitillo will have the same season as last. You can't have it both ways Mike!
I mentioned that I'm kind of glad that Wright did not go on Francesa's show. That's because I think the bully needs to be knocked down a peg. I don't get the ora this guy has over the listeners. I'm not saying he doesn't know a lot about sports but you would think that someone who claims to know baseball better than all sports would have a more holistic view of the game. There were other Mets hitters who did not produce the final week either. Hitters that had nowhere near the stats Wright had last season. But for some reason, Francesa (and other Mets fans to be fair) want only to pick on Wright.
David Wright is one of the two best farm bred offensive players in Mets history. Darryl Strawberry is the other. Unlike Strawberry, Wright seems to have his head on straight, loves the game, works tirelessly, and loves the organization he plays for. Even though Wright should have went on the show, I'll side with him over the sports doctor any day.
