Larry Brown Sports

David Wright is having a pretty big offseason. Not only did the All-Star third baseman sign a long-term extension with the Mets, but he also got engaged.

Wright told ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin that he and model Molly Beers got engaged over the holidays. Beers joined Wright at his press conference announcing his contract, suggesting the two were pretty serious.

Wright and Beers’ relationship was mentioned publicly when Wright threw her a surprise birthday party in July 2008. Player Wives says the two met at the World Baseball Classic in 2006, and that they have been on and off over the years.

Wright turned 30 last month. He is entering his 10th season in the bigs.

News broke early Friday morning that the New York Mets and David Wright agreed to terms on a 7-year contract extension. Wright is one of the best third basemen in baseball, so it’s wise of the Mets to keep him. But there’s one aspect of the agreement that is intentionally misleading. Don’t fall for the PR game.

If you look at the way the contract is being reported by WFAN’s Ed Coleman — who works for the team’s flagship radio station — what’s being highlighted is that the Mets are making Wright the highest-paid player in franchise history. They’re doing that because the Mets want people to think that they are still a financially sound club that is willing to spend big money, even though they’re not.

The truth, if Ed Coleman’s report for WFAN is to be believed, is that the Mets are giving Wright a seven-year extension for $122 million. Smart outlets are reporting the contract that way, because that’s what it is. Those falling for the Mets’ trick are calling it the “richest in team history,” or some variation of that phrase. If Wright is taking that contract, then he is agreeing to a below-market deal. Are you telling me Wright couldn’t get $150 million on the free agent market? I’ve got one answer for you: Do the Dodgers need a third baseman?

The only way Wright’s new 7-year, $122 million deal tops Johan Santana’s 6-year, $137.5 million deal is if you add in the $16 million Wright was already scheduled to make next season. The Mets are only giving him $122 million more in NEW guaranteed money. His contract falls short of Santana’s on an average annual salary basis, which means he’s not the highest-paid player on the team.

And how cheap are the Mets? They only beat Santana’s contract by a half-million dollars.

Again, this is all based on the contract details reported by WFAN. If their report proves to be inaccurate, I will apologize. Until then, don’t believe the spin on the deal; the Mets are not the big spenders they’d like you to believe they are.

Very rarely will you come across a player who wants to be hit by a pitch, but Tuesday night in New York was an exception. During the seventh inning of the Brewers blowout win over the Mets, Ryan Braun was hit in the shoulder with a D.J. Carrasco fastball. The umpire felt that there was obvious intent, so Carrasco was ejected.

With David Wright due to lead off in the bottom of the seventh, retaliation was expected to come immediately. Mets manager Terry Collins anticipated that the Brewers would try to get even by hitting New York’s star player, so he pulled Wright from the game. That led to a very heated discussion between Collins and Wright in the dugout.

Read The Rest of the Story…

Mets owner Fred Wilpon and his son Jeff Wilpon are Michigan men. Mets third baseman David Wright is a Virginia man. When the aforementioned parties found out that Virginia Tech would be playing Michigan in the Sugar Bowl back in January, Fred called Wright to propose a friendly wager. Michigan won 23-20 in overtime, and Wright squared up with the Wilpons earlier this week at spring training by wearing a Denard Robinson jersey.

“You can’t really say no to the owner,” Wright told MLB.com according to the Detroit Free Press. “You could expect a call when they’re 3-, 3 1/2-point favorites. I thought they forgot about it and then during the meeting, they broke out the jersey. Hopefully they get a rematch next year.”

I think we can all agree that it is much more fun when Maria Menounos loses a bet.

Pictures via @metsblog and @Official_TylerJ

Pulling of an amazing play is one thing.  Executing a trick play is another.  Both make for quality highlight reel material, but why not combine the two?  Most people don’t have the skill to accomplish both tasks at most, but David Wright is not most people.  Wright made an outstanding diving stop against the Padres on Wednesday.  When he realized he probably would not have enough time to throw out the runner at first, he decided to pull one out of the old magic hat.  Check out the David Wright trick play on Cameron Maybin video:

Nothing Maybin can really do there.   I suppose you can call it a mental error, but sometimes the mind just can’t work that quickly.  If you don’t believe me, just ask UNC’s lacrosse goalie or Cerezo goalie Jin-Hyeon Kim.  Those two know a little something about being faked out of their shoes.

Mets owner Fred Wilpon gave one of the oddest interviews by a sports executive this side of David Kahn when he ripped into his own players and team. In his interview with The New Yorker, Wilpon took aim at Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and David Wright. Oh yeah, he also called his team “sh***y” and “snakebitten” for good measure. I’m surprised he left franchise icons Tom Seaver, Keith Hernandez, Doc Gooden, and Darryl Strawberry off his hit list. Could he not find anything wrong with Mr. Met?

Anyway, if there’s anything worse than tearing your team to shreds while leaving nothing behind but the rotting carcass, it’s apologizing for your comments with phony excuses. Check that, it’s clearing things up over speakerphone, then apologizing with phony excuses.

Speaking on Friday, David Wright addressed Wilpon’s apology. “He called to say that he misspoke,” Wright said. “And that he appreciated the response and that he loves the team and the organization and he’d never do anything to try to embarrass us.”

Read The Rest of the Story…

The first problems we discussed about the new Mets Citi Field related to the lack of hot water in the visiting clubhouse. Now about 55 games into the season, you figure the problem’s been worked out. While that issue was an easy fix, there’s one that seems likely to be here for good: the large dimensions. The pitcher-friendly confines seem to be an issue for Mets players, specifically David Wright, as told by Chipper Jones:

“It is the biggest park that I have ever played in in my life,” Jones told the show “Ripken Baseball” on Sirius XM Radio. “It is a huge ballpark to center and right center and right field. You know, I actually feel sort of sorry for some of the guys out there because their power numbers are really going to take a hit; guys like David Wright, [Carlos] Beltran, [Carlos] Delgado. The days of them hitting 35, 40 homers — they’re over.”
…
“I juiced the ball just right of center field as hard as the good Lord can let me hit a ball, and it hit midways up the center-field wall for a double,” he said. “And every time there was a long fly out or a double that hit off the wall or something, David Wright would run by me and go, ‘Nice park.’

While Wright (and Chipper) may be bitching about the dimensions, the numbers would actually tell a story that makes you think they have a home field advantage. The Mets are 18-9 at home which is one of the best marks in the league. They’ve also hit 21 home runs in only 27 home games compared to 16 homers in 30 road games. The team’s slugging percentage is also higher at home (.435) than it is on the road (.390). As far as Reyes and Delgado’s numbers go, newsflash for Chipper but their stats are down because they’ve both been injured this year. Thing about it is just like I said in the headline, the dimensions are in Wright’s head: he’s hitting .413 with an OPS of 1.090 on the road while he’s just hitting .280 and .833 at home. Also, his 3:1 strikeouts to walk ratio at home makes me think the park is messing with his approach considering he walks more than he strikes out on the road. He’s definitely suffering from the Petco Park effect.