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Wright not right

Frayed Knot Feb 28 2017 03:16 PM

Under the long-held theory about the back bone being connected to the neck bone and the neck bone connected to the shoulder bone, etc. 'The Puma' @ NY Post David Wright’s chances of beginning the season with the Mets now appear razor thin. The Mets captain returned to New York on Tuesday and was diagnosed with an impingement in his right shoulder, according to general manager Sandy Alderson, which precludes Wright from throwing. “He’s not going to be throwing for a couple of weeks and probably not throwing with any real zip for a period after that,” Alderson said. “He can continue to DH, but in the meantime he will be doing lots of shoulder exercises.” Alderson said the impingement is correlated to Wright’s surgery last June for a herniated disk in his neck. IOW, lotsa playing time for Flores & Reyes

Benjamin Grimm Feb 28 2017 03:24 PM Re: Wright not right

I'm not at all surprised. In fact, I would have been surprised if he was throwing "with zip" by Opening Day. And if he has to lob the ball to first base, he obviously can't play third.

41Forever Feb 28 2017 03:25 PM Re: Wright not right

Heartbreaking, but I can't say it's unexpected. Can they start grooming him to be Terry's eventual replacement?

Edgy MD Feb 28 2017 03:52 PM Re: Wright not right

Grooming is for barbers. He could manage today. But I imagine he's going to keep playing baseball.

Edgy MD Feb 28 2017 04:57 PM Re: Wright not right

T.J. Rivera and Gavin Cecchini both reportedly taking balls at third today.

Ashie62 Feb 28 2017 06:18 PM Re: Wright not right

Shoulder impingment. Guessing Reyes moves to 3B and maybe Conforto or Bruce to 1B. [url]http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/shoulder-injury-likely-to-keep-david-wright-out-on-opening-day-but-mets-have-a-plan/

Benjamin Grimm Feb 28 2017 06:35 PM Re: Wright not right

Well, there's no certainty yet that first base will be affected. We may find that Duda is just fine.

batmagadanleadoff Feb 28 2017 06:51 PM Re: Wright not right

Why not Flores? He hits lefties like he's Willie Mays in his prime. What has to happen for Flores to get more playing time than he's gotten?

Ceetar Feb 28 2017 07:14 PM Re: Wright not right

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Why not Flores? He hits lefties like he's Willie Mays in his prime. What has to happen for Flores to get more playing time than he's gotten? hit righties maybe?

Edgy MD Feb 28 2017 07:19 PM Re: Wright not right

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Why not Flores? He hits lefties like he's Willie Mays in his prime. What has to happen for Flores to get more playing time than he's gotten? I think he's already been taking grounders over there. Gavin and TJ are new to the brigade.

Benjamin Grimm Feb 28 2017 07:27 PM Re: Wright not right

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Why not Flores? He hits lefties like he's Willie Mays in his prime. What has to happen for Flores to get more playing time than he's gotten? I think that when there's a lefty starter, Flores will see quite a bit of time at first base.

Lefty Specialist Feb 28 2017 07:42 PM Re: Wright not right

Benjamin Grimm wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: Why not Flores? He hits lefties like he's Willie Mays in his prime. What has to happen for Flores to get more playing time than he's gotten? I think that when there's a lefty starter, Flores will see quite a bit of time at first base. Yup, I'd expect that Reyes will settle in at third now, so Wilmer will be the floater at 1st/2nd/3rd, as the rest of the infield will need days off.

Ceetar Feb 28 2017 07:58 PM Re: Wright not right

Lefty Specialist wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: Why not Flores? He hits lefties like he's Willie Mays in his prime. What has to happen for Flores to get more playing time than he's gotten? I think that when there's a lefty starter, Flores will see quite a bit of time at first base. Yup, I'd expect that Reyes will settle in at third now, so Wilmer will be the floater at 1st/2nd/3rd, as the rest of the infield will need days off. well, it's February. no one's really _Settling_ in anywhere yet.

Frayed Knot Feb 28 2017 08:43 PM Re: Wright not right

Ceetar wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: Why not Flores? He hits lefties like he's Willie Mays in his prime. What has to happen for Flores to get more playing time than he's gotten? hit righties maybe? That, plus not hitting the DL at the same time a position is wide open for him because someone else is on the DL would be a fun new idea. That was essentially his story for much of 2016. Between Wright & Duda & Walker & Cabrera all needing time (and sometimes months) off, Wilmer could easily have had 500+ ABs last year.

Zvon Feb 28 2017 09:06 PM Re: Wright not right

Very sad news about The Captain. No talk of Cabrera playing some third? He's only played the position once in his entire career but he's a big guy with quick hands and I don't see any problem there if he would be okay the move. Reyes can take short for most of the time and then we have Cecchini, Flores, Reynolds, & Rivera to plug in the rest gaps. And is Rosario slated to start the season with the big club? We'll probably end up with Reyes at 3rd mostly, and I'm totally okay with that as well.

Edgy MD Feb 28 2017 09:10 PM Re: Wright not right

It depends on whether and why you think moving Cabrera at third and Reyes at short is the better alignment. The Mets general attitude is to defer to incumbent starters and avoid moving them at all costs.

Frayed Knot Feb 28 2017 09:17 PM Re: Wright not right

Yeah, I don't think they're moving Cabrera off the position to make room for Reyes who is 2-1/2 years older and has played all of 57* games at SS since the end of 2014. oe: 114 actually (I ignored his brief Colorado stint). But still, his last full season at SS was 2014 (134 starts) and his last full one on grass was 2012

Zvon Feb 28 2017 09:24 PM Re: Wright not right

Edgy MD wrote: It depends on whether and why you think moving Cabrera at third and Reyes at short is the better alignment. The Mets general attitude is not to defer to incumbent starters and avoid moving them at all costs. I agree and like 99.9% I share the same sentiment. My reasoning is not sound, especially after what Cabs gave us last year. I just would love to see Reyes manning SS again I think it might be the best set-up for the left side. I suppose the other way around does not make much of a difference. I just love Reyes at short so my thinking in biased. The great thing is that I loved Cabby at short too, so I'll be happy in any case. I want Reyes to play a lot. I think he's going to make some major contributions.

Lefty Specialist Feb 28 2017 09:27 PM Re: Wright not right

This kind of solves the 'who leads off' problem, until Reyes gets hurt of course.

Ceetar Feb 28 2017 09:38 PM Re: Wright not right

Lefty Specialist wrote: This kind of solves the 'who leads off' problem, until Reyes gets hurt of course. not really, but for Collins probably yeah.

Ashie62 Feb 28 2017 10:36 PM Re: Wright not right

Lefty Specialist wrote: This kind of solves the 'who leads off' problem, until Reyes gets hurt of course. Yes, we are praying for Jose to stay healthy, lmao.[flash=][/flash]

Centerfield Mar 01 2017 01:57 AM Re: Wright not right

SIGN KELLY JOHNSON.

Fman99 Mar 01 2017 02:18 AM Re: Wright not right

Sucks. Rest up, Cap'n, we wanna see you on the damn field.

MFS62 Mar 01 2017 02:20 AM Re: Wright not right

Centerfield wrote: SIGN KELLY JOHNSON. I think that ship has passed In 2013 and 2016 he was pretty inconsistent, only hot when the weather was. In 2014 he was awful. In 2015 he was consistent the whole year. Its time to let him fade into Mets history. Of course, he does hit lefty, and has played first base, so ..... ah, I don't know. Later

batmagadanleadoff Mar 01 2017 05:19 PM Re: Wright not right

Ceetar wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: Why not Flores? He hits lefties like he's Willie Mays in his prime. What has to happen for Flores to get more playing time than he's gotten? hit righties maybe? Why not make a case to give Flores more AB's against righties on the theory that he's young enough where he might show improvement? It's the same argument many make to get Conforto more AB's against lefties. Except that Conforto, not even at his best, ever hit righties the way Flores crushes lefties. If every pitcher out there were a lefty, Flores would be putting up Babe Ruth numbers. He'd be like Cespedes during his incredible run in 2015.

Ceetar Mar 01 2017 06:45 PM Re: Wright not right

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Ceetar wrote: hit righties maybe? Why not make a case to give Flores more AB's against righties on the theory that he's young enough where he might show improvement? It's the same argument many make to get Conforto more AB's against lefties. Except that Conforto, not even at his best, ever hit righties the way Flores crushes lefties. If every pitcher out there were a lefty, Flores would be putting up Babe Ruth numbers. He'd be like Cespedes during his incredible run in 2015. his career wRC+ against lefties is 125. If everyone he faced was a lefty he'd have been 33rd best hitter in baseball last year, with the likes of Jean Segura and Wilson Ramos. And honestly, that _might_ be just enough to make him a useful player, since he's got a career 84 wRC+ against righties. About 1/4 starters are lefty, so if you gave him his off days against righties, liberally, you'd probably have a case. But he's had 900 PA against righties. His splits got _more_ extreme last year. It was the selective usage by Collins that even made him look good at all. Sure, he can learn, anyone can learn. Conforto too, who's numbers against lefties are nearly as bad as mine. But we've seen a lot of evidence and I don't think the percentages of that gamble are worth it, barring necessity. Of course, he's also slow and maybe bad on defense depending where we're playing him.

batmagadanleadoff Mar 01 2017 06:59 PM Re: Wright not right

If you give more weight to Flores's recent seasons and less weight to when he was barely in his 20's, you're looking at Babe Ruth numbers against lefties. Babe Ruth.

Ceetar Mar 01 2017 07:11 PM Re: Wright not right

batmagadanleadoff wrote: If you give more weight to Flores's recent seasons and less weight to when he was barely in his 20's, you're looking at Babe Ruth numbers against lefties. Babe Ruth. Do you want me to find you 100 PA stretches where garbage players you've never heard of were awesome against lefties? Because that's a small sample. Also Babe Ruth was _still_ another 20% or so better than that. over his career. Hell, in 1920 he was roughly TWICE as good.

batmagadanleadoff Mar 01 2017 07:59 PM Re: Wright not right

Unlike Conforto, who's been so great for so long, that they've probably already made him his HOF plaque.

Ceetar Mar 01 2017 08:08 PM Re: Wright not right

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Unlike Conforto, who's been so great for so long, that they've probably already made him his HOF plaque. I'm also skeptical about Conforto, fwiw. Those numbers against lefties are beyond pathetic, and I take zero stock in Spring Training. I'm hoping the wrist problems he dealt with last year were a lot of the problem, but that's besides the point of what Flores needs to do to get more playing time.

Zvon Mar 01 2017 08:57 PM Re: Wright not right

Ceetar wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: Unlike Conforto, who's been so great for so long, that they've probably already made him his HOF plaque. I'm also skeptical about Conforto, fwiw. Those numbers against lefties are beyond pathetic, and I take zero stock in Spring Training. I'm hoping the wrist problems he dealt with last year were a lot of the problem, but that's besides the point of what Flores needs to do to get more playing time. Well he went 0-3 last game, all Ks. Only one vs. a lefty, but all 3 Ks took only 9 pitches. Didn't see a ball. Interesting after his hot start. Not worried yet. Maybe he was told to look at more pitches or something silly like that. I say leave this kid alone and let him rake.

Ceetar Mar 01 2017 09:01 PM Re: Wright not right

Zvon wrote: Ceetar wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: Unlike Conforto, who's been so great for so long, that they've probably already made him his HOF plaque. I'm also skeptical about Conforto, fwiw. Those numbers against lefties are beyond pathetic, and I take zero stock in Spring Training. I'm hoping the wrist problems he dealt with last year were a lot of the problem, but that's besides the point of what Flores needs to do to get more playing time. Well he went 0-3 last game, all Ks. Only one vs. a lefty, but all 3 Ks took only 9 pitches. Didn't see a ball. Interesting after his hot start. Not worried yet. Maybe he was told to look at more pitches or something silly like that. I say leave this kid alone and let him rake. He didn't see a ball? you sure on that? regardless, today he hit well. not that any of it matters.

Edgy MD Mar 01 2017 09:29 PM Re: Wright not right

Kids, don't believe GAMEDAY reports in spring. They typically don't report the number of pitches, balls and strikes. All strikeouts are typically reported as being on three pitches, all walks are on four pitches, all balls in play are typically reported as coming on the first pitch.

Ceetar Mar 01 2017 09:31 PM Re: Wright not right

Edgy MD wrote: Kids, don't believe GAMEDAY reports in spring. They typically don't report the number of pitches, balls and strikes. All strikeouts are typically reported as being on three pitches, all walks are on four pitches, all balls in play are typically reported as coming on the first pitch. no way, it's working fine as far as I can tell. [tweet]https://twitter.com/Lets86it/status/837023558190706688[/tweet]

Benjamin Grimm Mar 01 2017 09:36 PM Re: Wright not right

I have to think that 55-pitch at bats will somewhat undermine the efforts to reduce the length of games.

Edgy MD Mar 01 2017 09:39 PM Re: Wright not right

Forget time. Think of the expenses all those foul balls incur.

MFS62 Mar 05 2017 02:39 AM Re: Wright not right

About David Wright- if he is on the DL from day 1 of the regular season, is his salary covered by the insurance policy as a continuation of last years' end of season DL stint? Or does the clock have to start (before insurance kicks in) all over again? Later

batmagadanleadoff Mar 19 2017 08:39 PM Re: Wright not right

In depth piece on Wright from Sports Illuistrated: For David Wright, everything goes wrong just as Mets finally start to go right Jack Dickey Monday March 13th, 2017 The 2017 Mets might just be bound for glory. Will David Wright, the best position player in franchise history, be joining them? Wright, now 34, was diagnosed with career-threatening spinal stenosis in 2015 (he missed 115 games that season) and had surgery on a herniated disc in '16 (and missed another 115). This spring, while preparing for a measured comeback, he was found to have an impingement in his right shoulder. At present, he cannot throw without pain and has not put a timetable on his return. His career, again, is in jeopardy; though he is under contract with the Mets until 2020, it is hard to imagine him ever rehabilitating himself to the point that he can reassume the responsibilities of an everyday third baseman. The timing of his injury must sting further. Flush with dominant young pitching, stiffened by a brigade of credible veteran bats, the Mets—knock on wood—have not reached even the midpoint of one of the rare happy cycles in the franchise’s life. I do mean rare: From 1989 to 2014, the Mets made all of three playoff appearances, and all but two of the 55 seasons in franchise history have ended with someone else winning the World Series. Ragged ineptitude, after all, is the franchise’s founding principle. The Mets specialize in sudden, painful and underserved reversals of fortune. They crush us, because they don’t know what else to do, and still we come back, because, well, just maybe this one time things will go another way. The Mets' title drought hit 30 last year. I figured that 2009 stood alone among those campaigns for the futility and humiliation it produced. (I was a toddler during ’93, but I’ve heard stories.) The Mets had missed out on playoff spots in 2007 and '08 by a combined two games, but in '09 they missed by 22. From ’06 to ’08, they outscored their opponents by an average of 80 runs a season; in ’09, they were outscored by 86. It was the year the team finally moved into a new stadium (it turned out to be cavernous and charmless) and the year the bullpen’s back end was supposed to be fixed (closer Francisco Rodriguez had the worst year of his career, and setup man J.J. Putz hit the DL for good in June with an ERA over five). It was the year that Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes played in a combined 143 games, and Livan Hernandez, Oliver Perez, Tim Redding and Mike Pelfrey combined for 85 starts at a 5.39 ERA. It was the year the Mets led the league in payroll but had no depth, and the year a member of the front office challenged, shirtless, the entire Double A club to a fight. That brings me back to Wright, the only player employed continuously by the team from 2009 to the present—the link between that mess and this bunch. That 2009 season was the year I found myself on hand at Citi Field one Saturday afternoon in August, high above third base, to witness the low point of that wretched season, the cruelest injury I’ve ever seen live. I can’t forget it: In the fourth inning, a 93-mph fastball from Giants starter Matt Cain struck Wright squarely in the side of his helmet. It wasn’t intentional—the count was 0-2, and Cain hit only two other batters all season—but it was violent. The pitch tailed up and in, chasing Wright with speed and spin. He stayed down for a minute, left the game and would spend 15 days on the disabled list with a concussion. When Wright returned, he did so wearing a so-called Great Gazoo helmet, twice as big as a normal one, in theory to protect against a second concussion. He ditched it after a few days of merciless ridicule. He was hitting .324 when he got hurt, his season the only part of that year that had gone according to plan, then hit .239 the rest of the way. It’s too pat to say that the concussion changed Wright for good. The stenosis diagnosis is a unrelated and serious one, and he has looked at moments like the hitter he once was. In 2015, he homered in his first game back from the disabled list, and again during the first home game of the World Series. But the injury does divide Wright’s career well enough. At the end of the 2009 season, Wright had played 847 games over 5 1/2 seasons, and his career numbers stood at .309/.389/.518. In the seven seasons since, over 736 games, he’s hit .282/.362/.460. He walks less, strikes out more and almost never drives the ball. He’s not a bad player, but he is a diminished one. (Diminishment happens to be a motif on the infield’s left side; the bulk of what would have been Wright’s playing time figures to go to Reyes, the former four-time All-Star and fan favorite, who landed back on the team at a bargain price only because Colorado cut him at midseason last year after a 51-game suspension for an alleged domestic violence incident.) Until the day Cain beaned him, Wright had passed an unimaginably charmed career. He was beloved by Mets fans and the New York media—neither is a small feat—and had developed near-mastery of the game. He had three straight top-ten MVP finishes and two straight (albeit dubious) Gold Gloves, all stunning even before accounting for New York’s decades-long inability to find a decent third baseman. Mets fans not unreasonably envisioned a plaque in Cooperstown. What he had done was unlike anything they had ever seen; it was, well, it wasn’t very Mets. The hamstrung career that followed the beaning—replete with injuries and strikeouts, spent on a team that was rebuilding slowly and painfully and impecuniously—ought to have belonged to someone else. But it was familiar. “If this is the most adversity I am going to have to face in my life, it’s not that bad in the grand scheme of things,” Wright told the press last week in Florida. He is hopeful. He is lining up for what will almost certainly be more indignity and pain, because maybe—just maybe—things will go another way. He is, for sure, one of us. http://www.si.com/mlb/2017/03/13/new-yo ... ury-career

John Cougar Lunchbucket Mar 19 2017 09:50 PM Re: Wright not right

Mot for nothing, but this specifically isn;t what I'd call in-depth. The only access to Wright is a second-hand press-pool quote, surrounded by a load of purple prose on how awful us Mets fans must feel about ourselves. Go fuck a rolling donut, Jack Dickey.