I don’t need to tell you David Wright was an all-time Met great. Fielded his position well. Hit for power and average. Could take a walk. Clutch? You bet. Well spoken. Model citizen. Dad was a cop. Met stock through and through draft pick who grew up rooting for the Tides, never played for another team and acquired as a compensation draft pick for just the kind of fleeting mercenary he wasn’t, the one-and-done Mike Hampton. Tore up the team record books to lead all-time in hits, runs scored, plate appearances, doubles, walks, total bases and runs batted in. Got along great with the press. .296 batting average, same as Mike Piazza as a Met.
If they didn’t go and hang his No. 5 high up in left field next summer, all of the above things would still be true, and needn’t be forgotten, since Wright at the same time will be entering into the Mets Hall of Fame.
I don’t need to tell you, and neither does the retired number.
Don’t get me wrong. I think Wright is the perfect example of a player whose number should be retired, for all the reasons above. But numbskulls are already writing dumb articles about who should be next as though there’s a well of guys as accomplished as Wright out there in Mets history who somehow just haven’t gotten their due.
The sad truth of the matter is the Mets don’t have a great history when it comes to developing retirement-worthy ballplayers and no amount of number-retirement is going to fix that. So I’m calling for an end to number retirements, not just for the Mets, but as a thing. Find a more creative way to salute the accomplishments of these guys. Name a field after Gary Carter. Have the best rookie win the Dwight Gooden Award. And I’d much prefer a Darryl Strawberry statue by the right field gate than no more No. 18s. Wouldn’t anybody?
Let’s end this madness.
So it seems that in addition to more money ever paid to any player in any sport ever, Juan Soto gets possession of No. 22 written into his contract. Rules in the new CBA state players aren’t supposed to switch numbers without alerting the league office well in advance or by acquiring the inventory of materials bearing that combination of name and number, so there’s a further outlay Steve Cohen must make to erase the retail existence of Brett Baty.
Catching up with other moves, Frankie Montas has worn 47 throughout his career and will step into that here with Joey Lucchesi gone. Jose Siri (No. 22 with Tampa Bay) will be shopping for a new number. And No. 35 is available for Clay Holmes, who also came from the Yankees.
The best part of any Met game has become what Daniel Vogelbach does with it, now that the outcome has seemingly become less of a point. That’s what 4 of 5 from the Braves followed by 3 easy wins over the Reds has done. Together it’s all part of a 15-4 run since 
In Section 105, it’s temporary ignorance of there being two “main” scoreboards and coming very close to a point where the line of vision to the batter is compromised by the equipment securing the foul-ball netting. Other than that it was a few “grown men” in section 106 amusing themselves and no one else by chanting “Let’s Go Brandon” during Nimmo’s turns at-bat, but only a few pitches into it, further demonstrating their ignorance. Nimmo by the way has a new walk-up song, “I Feel Like A Woman” but some country star, I think Shania Twain.
I shelled out for field level seats, bought the boy a Taijuan Walker shirsey since he’d long grown out of all his previous ones — Wright, Nieuwenhuis and Syndergaard if I recall. The combination of Walker’s turn in the rotation and what he agreed was a cool number, 99, sealed the decision and helped me to suggest his inclination of a Megill 38 shirsey was kind of cool but only if he remembers to wear it again in 10 or 15 years.
I in the meantime replaced a banged-up Mr. Met mug that has been my No. 1 morning coffee companion ever since receiving it as a David Wright Era father’s day gift. The new one is pictured here.
Let the debate begin. The Mets surprised the market by adding the veteran infielder on a two-year contract. In addition to figuring out where he’ll fit on an infield with Amed Rosario, Todd Frazier, Robinson Cano, Jeff McNeil, JD Davis, Peter Alonso, Dominic Smith, Luis Guillorme, Gavin Cecchini and TJ Rivera, they need to give him a jersey.
I think it’s more likely we see another Met 8 than see the club retire the number, and if it’s what Lowrie wants I suppose I have no problem with it. As I’ve expressed here before, I’d prefer it were the Mets to judiciously reissue, give No. 8 to the next good young catcher, but simply to uphold a limbo ban seems like a dumb idea so if Jed wouldn’t prefer to retake No. 4, I say let him have it.
Davis wore 28 in a brief run in Houston but 26 is his twitter handle and minor-league assignment. That number became available when the Mets dumped Kevin Plawecki on the Indians in exchange for a fringe starting pitcher prospect, Walker Lockett, and a minor league infielder called Sam Haggerty. Lockett never pitched in Cleveland but instead passed through on paper from San Diego, which traded him with the idea they were to lose him in the Rule 5 draft anyhow. Lockett appeared in four games with the Padres last summer wearing No. 62: He’s the Mets’ problem now.
For a guy who who started and is now ending a 16-year career that has taken place completely within the MBTN Era I didn’t write a whole lot about David Wright. That’s sort of the nature of covering an aspect of the game that tracks things that change and move on: I spilled more electronic ink, proportionately anyway, on guys like Nick Evans and Bartolome Fortunato and Travis d’Arnaud, whose Met careers are a jagged line. Or on the comings and goings and stylings of Wright’s predecessor in the No. 5 jersey, Tsuyoshi Shinjo.
