The captain of The New York Mets, David Wright, has been here a long time. Entering his 12th year with the Amazins, Wright has seen it all. From coming up as a rookie on a winning team, to suffering heartbreak in the postseason in 2006, to being a part of a losing team for years, and then finally reaching the World Series in 2015. Injuries prevented him from being a major force in the lineup in the regular season last year. Now he’s relatively healthy, and that’s why I think Wright will turn it around this year, and will make that good lineup into a dangerous one.
The Mets’ young rotation will carry them. The dominance in that staff is overwhelming. They currently have three aces in their rotation, not counting Zack Wheeler. Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, and Noah Syndergaard are very, very good. No one has a better starting five in the MLB than the Mets. You would think, then, that having great pitching takes a lot of pressure off the hitters right? In most cases yes, but this isn’t a normal fan-base.
Before the trade for Yoenis Cespedes, statistically speaking, the Mets were one of, if not the worst offensive teams in the league. After the trade for Cespedes, the Mets skyrocketed to one of the best in the league. And all this happened while the Captain was sitting on the Disabled List.
For over four months, Wright was on the shelf with Spinal Stenosis, a back injury similar to the one that basically cut short Don Mattingly‘s career. No one thought that he would come back the same. Fortunately for Met fans, he did. In 38 games played in 2015, Wright had a slash line of .289/.379/.434, along with 5 home runs, 17 RBI, and 24 runs. He had a decent year in the limited time he was available. In the postseason, however, Wright struggled. In 14 games, He hit a meager .185/.313/.278, with 1 home run and 7 RBIs. Getting back to the playoffs has been Wright’s main goal from the beginning. That was one of the main reasons that he re-signed with the Mets in the offseason of 2012 to an 8 year $138 million extension.
If anyone on the Mets deserves to have a bounce-back year, it’s David Wright. He’s been the foundation of this team since 2004. He’s broken nearly every offensive record in team history, (17 home runs behind Darryl Strawberry for 1st). He’s been the scapegoat numerous times for their struggles. He’s been named the fourth captain in team history. He did all of these things while handling the New York media better than anyone not named Derek Jeter. It’s not in his nature to not bounce back from a down year. I believe his 2016 season will be a bright one, and that he will be the main catalyst in a stout Mets lineup.
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