New York Mets: Time for David Wright to Accept the Inevitable and Retire

It’s time for David Wright to say goodbye to the New York Mets as a player.

It is hard for athletes to say goodbye to yesterday. The New York Mets have been very lucky over the last 13 years. Prior to 2004, the Mets sported a revolving door of third basemen. 48 players have played at least 40 games at the hot corner. That might not sound like a lot, but when you remember that the Mets joined the league in 1962 that numbers becomes much more significant.

In 2004 it all changed. David Wright came to Queens. The star third baseman with the big bat made it to “the show”. That rookie year he played in 69 games, hit .293 with 14 home runs and 40 RBI. From there, he was off and running, never playing less than 100 games again until 2015 when the injury bug hit.

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Every Mets fan knows what happened from here. It started in 2015 with spinal stenosis. It went on to the herniated disc in his next and the shoulder problems. All of which have limited Wright to 38 games in 2015 and 37 in 2016. It’s possible to almost forget that he is a member of the team at this point, it has been so long since he played.

The closest he has come to returning was a rehab stint that started him in Florida with the Port St. Lucie team affiliate.

Is it me or does he almost look sickly?

I understand that it has been a long time since he had played but he should look better than that. He doesn’t look in game shape. He looks frail. It really is no surprise that Wright had to shut down his rehab assignment. Besides the injuries making things difficult, it is hard to play at the level Wright expects to when he is down so much weight. The muscle is just not there so it’s no surprise that the body has a lower threshold for pain.

The lesson that needs to be learned here, however, is that it is over. David Wright needs to hang up his cleats and stop trying this comeback. He needs to think about his life. He has a wife, I am sure they must be thinking about kids as he is still a young man. Spending his retired life in constant pain is not something that he wants to do. He has tried and it isn’t working out. Time to cut your losses.

This isn’t an easy task for any athlete. More often than not, athletes hang around too long. Emmitt Smith hung around the NFL until he was a shell of his former self. His last professional carry was a fumble and this is the top rusher in league history. It happens in all sports. Players can’t fathom the life without cheering fans so they hang around the game until they are not good at it anymore.

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For Wright, the time is now. Make the decision to walk away while it is still your decision. Don’t wait until you are physically incapacitated. The Mets will surely keep you in the organization for as long as you want to be there. But the playing days are over. It’s time to say goodbye.

Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference.

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