New York Mets: David Wright Lands On Worst Contracts List

New York Mets third baseman David Wright has landed on ESPN’s list for worst contracts in the MLB, just barely, being ranked No.24.

The New York Mets are in a tough predicament when it comes to third baseman David Wright. He has been the face of the franchise for many years, and is beloved by the organization and fans alike. But. injuries have sapped him of a lot of his production, and he is dealing with a degenerative condition in his back; he missed a majority of last season with spinal stenosis.

Those are all reasons that Wright’s contract has become a tough one for the Mets to swallow. Before they opened up their check book this offseason, the Mets were handcuffed by Wright, who was taking up about 20 percent of their payroll; he is set to earn $20 million this season and the following two.

That type of contract just does not match the production, which is part of the reason that Wright landed on the biggest albatross contracts in MLB list made by Dan Szymborski of ESPN.

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Using ZiPS projections, Szymborski calculated the difference between the projected long-term performance of every player in baseball, and how much a team is projected to pay for that performance, whether from a signed contract or from predicting arbitration-year salaries. Part of the process also included personal judgement, as the ZiPS projections were used as a baseline to help.

The projections are not pretty for the 33-year old Wright, who is still owed $87 million over the next five years and has a surplus value of -4.4 wins. Here is what Szymborski had to say in regards to Wright:

"Unlike some of the others on the list, I think there’s a good chance Wright can be a significant positive contributor again given that he did in fact hit quite well (.289/.379/.434) after coming back from the back problems that ruined most of his 2015 campaign. But we can’t simply ignore injury problems for a player in his 30s, especially when the injury stems from a degenerative issue that could very well recur in the future. We also can’t ignore the fact that there are five years and $87 million remaining in Wright’s deal."

Wright is still the starting third baseman for the Mets, but how much he will be out there is a fair question to ask. The Mets are planning on him being out there for about 130 games, a plateau he has reached in only two of the last five seasons. It is wishful thinking, the reality of it is that Wright may not be able to hold up that long.

Not only is his performance at the plate impacted with the back injury, his fielding is as well. Wright struggled at times last season getting the ball over to first base as the injury limits some of his movements. He also finished with a negative defensive WAR for the first time since 2011 and registered the lowest range factor of his career for a season.

While the Mets are hoping that Wright can return to form a bit in 2016 and stay on the field more, there is no guarnatee that will happen. The older he gets the more the back injury is going to diminish his production on the field. Unlike last season though, the Mets have some contingency plans in place if Wright is forced to miss more games and does not reach the 130 game goal that has been set for him.

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