On day three of the MLB Winter Meetings in Nashville, the New York Mets held a formal news conference to announce the signing of all-star third baseman, David Wright. In case you were unaware, Wright and the Mets agreed to a 8-year $138 million extension, the largest contract in franchise history. During the presser, Wright told reporters he is very happy to be a Met-for-life, saying:
“I can honestly say I’ve never pictured myself in a different uniform. It wouldn’t mean as much winning somewhere else as it would, obviously, winning here. I grew up watching Cal Ripken Jr., playing against Chipper Jones for these number of years, being across town from Derek Jeter. I think there’s something to be said for that. And I’m very proud of that — to be able to be drafted at 18 by this organization, groomed, developed, make your big league debut with your favorite team growing up, having the opportunity for my friends and family to almost start bleeding blue and orange. It was a no-brainer for me. And it was very important to be able to finish what I started.”
Yesterday, General Manager Sandy Alderson and Mets manager Terry Collins said they will speak to the team during spring training about officially naming Wright as the clubs ‘captain.’ Wright would be the teams first captain since John Franco assuming his teammates are O.K. with the idea. This afternoon, however, Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon said David is already a captain: 
“I think David’s already the captain. It doesn’t need somebody to say, ‘You’re the captain.’ The best way to have leadership, and what David has shown, is leadership without having to have a ‘C’ on his chest or somebody name him captain. I think what Terry and Sandy and I have talked about is if the players come in spring and say, ‘Hey, listen, we really want David to be the captain, and be named the captain,’ then I’m sure Terry will bring that back and we’ll do something like that. But for right now, to me, David’s the captain. He’s the longest-tenured and he commands the respect in the clubhouse.”
Here is some more from the Mets COO, from those who were there:
In addition, Wilpon told reporters he has no problem bringing R.A. Dickey back next year on his $5 million option, calling the reigning Cy-Young winner a “great bargain.”
“It’s a negotiation. They want more than we’re willing to give right now. We want to do it for less than they want to accept right now. Somewhere in between, there’s probably a deal to be done. If not, he’ll be a great bargain at $5 million playing out next season for us.”
Once again the hot topic was trade rumors surrounding R.A. Dickey. Here are some tweets from Nashville:
In the end, Andy McCullough hit the nail on the head with this tweet:
While a trade involving Dickey or Jon Niese is possible, one person who is not going anywhere, is top prospect, Zack Wheeler:
In other news, Sandy Alderson said the Mets do not expect to select a player during tomorrows Rule 5 draft, according to Rubin:
While it seems the Mets are willing to eat some cash on Johan Santana‘s contract, no teams are taking the bait:
Though there is clearly a need for a catcher, according to Kevin Burkhardt, the club is not thrilled with any of the available Free Agents:
However, Adam Rubin reports Miguel Olivo tops the Mets free-agent catcher list, writing:
”If the Mets go the free-agent route at catcher, Miguel Olivo is now their top target, a major league source briefed on the Mets’ plans told ESPNNewYork.com. The Mets need a righty-hitting complement to Josh Thole. Among free agents, the Mets rate Olivo far higher than alternatives Chris Snyder and Matt Treanor. And team officials are determined not to revisit any of the former Mets on the market, including Kelly Shoppach, Rod Barajas and former farmhand Jesus Flores. The Mets may still swing a trade for a catcher, but there was nothing concrete developing on that front.”
Lastly, according to Ken Rosethal:
Comments
Powered by Facebook Comments
Twitter
Facebook