Wright Now, There Are Still Worries

By Mike McGann
Posted Sunday, April 8, 2007

Maybe the truest of cliches in sports is that “you’re never as good as it looks when you’re hot, and you’re never as bad as look when you’re cold.” It’s the natural human instinct to kind of leap past logic and ride the wave, either up or down, depending on how things are going at that moment.

One of the things almost a quarter century of experience in journalism, as opposed to, say, waiting tables, teaches you is how to ride the escalator in the opposite direction of the prevailing trend — step out a bit from the fan’s view and look at things from a different (there are those who would suggest Escher-like, in my case) point of view.

As I write this, Saturday morning for Sunday’s column, the Mets are 4-0, having outscored their opponents 31-3. The Post’s Mark Hale screams in his lead “Bring on the ’27 Yankees.” There is near euphoria in all Mets’ outposts. Should, by some luck, the Mets return home to Shea undefeated, the explosion of sheer Mets’ joy might cause the old ballpark to collapse a couple years early.

So, who needs a buzz kill?

Well, almost everyone. Just as I argued against the doom and gloom brigade who argued that the Mets wouldn’t finish better than third place, and were doomed because of their starting pitching issues, I have to argue against the opposite claims of the Mets being headed for 110 wins and sheer domination that seems to be popping up after a handful of games, even in the the media.

Sure, I picked the Mets to win 95 games this year and still think that to be a fair assessment, but there are things about this team that worry me.

I’m concerned about the bullpen. I don’t believe in Jose Valentin. I’m worried that Mike Pelfrey will be in over his head, or that Oliver Perez won’t be able to maintain his newly-found focus. I also think that most of those things will work themselves out, or be fixed by the returns of veterans such as Guillermo Mota, Dave Williams and Pedro Martinez. All of those problems, including Valentin, who seemingly has no obvious solution if he goes sideways, are much like the Mets’ 2006 issues, and will work out in much the same manner.

No, the problem I worry about is deeper, darker and much more frightening and one most Mets’ fans don’t much want to admit, let alone think about.

David Wright.

If you will excuse the pun, something seems just not right with Wright. For the entire second half of the 2006 season, he wasn’t the same player. Sure, he hit for average, but his power went away — and something seemed different about him. Was it the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game? The big-money, long-term contract? Fame?

I, along with many Mets’ fans, hoped to see the old David Wright return come spring training. We weren’t alone: it’s pretty evident that Willie Randolph had no intention of hitting Wright second during the season, but hit him there in spring training in an attempt to reset his mindset — get him to stop swinging for the fences and go back to just making solid contact. From here, it looks like this may be one of the few Willie Randolph head games that hasn’t worked.

I’m seeing the same player, the same swing we saw in the second half, and it worries me. Even with a lineup designed to make lefty pitchers pitch to Wright, the early samples make you wonder.

I know, odds are, David Wright is David Wright and will go on a tear, hit .325 with 35 HR and 124 RBI.

But I see all the magazine ads, the video game covers and adulation this kid gets and can’t help but wonder: “is he trying too hard to live up to the hype?” I’m not worried about this guy reading his press clippings and getting a big head — it’s not his style. I am worried that David Wright is trying to live up to his reputation as a superstar in New York. It’s saddled players as talented as Carlos Beltran, a fear of not being able to live up to the standard, of trying too hard.

Beltran, thanks in part to the addition of Carlos Delgado, was able to find his comfort zone and now looks like the most relaxed guy on the field. Interestingly, it’s also why so many people think the center fielder is going to be the National League’s Most Valuable Player in 2007.

I don’t see Wright in that comfort zone yet. I see the kid who worked himself to exhaustion in the Florida State League, a kid who worked himself so hard and so long in pregame practice and warmups that he had nothing left in the tank come game time. The team only figured it out when they looked at his home/road splits, realizing that he couldn’t get extra field time at road parks, yet he was crushing the ball in-game away from St. Lucie.

The Mets front office may well have picked up on this, which best explains the hiring of Howard Johnson as first-base coach — a guy who has served as Wright’s baseball big brother and one of the coaches that helped Wright get past overworking in 2003 — this despite Johnson running afoul of the front office last season and getting suspended. It also explains Randolph’s choice to hit Wright second in Florida, a place where he needed to focus on making contact, not on trying to elevate and drive the ball.

Sure, four games is not nearly enough of a sample to reach any conclusion; my own personal measuring stick is June 1. But if the Mets’ front office and staff is worried, I’m worried, too. And so far, I haven’t seen anything to make me not worry.

The funny thing is this, even if Wright hits for no power, they can juggle the lineup, maybe move Wright to seventh, and this team will score a ton anyway. This year. But Wright is supposed to be a keystone, the cleanup hitter when Delgado, Alou and Green are happy in retirement.

So you watch, you worry and you hope. Maybe it gets to the point where they start lighting candles in Brooklyn churches, or maybe the kid goes on one of those tears, like he did last May, and we laugh at ourselves for being silly. Maybe.

But right now, watching David Wright hit is tinged with worry, a bit of concern — nothing like the pure joy and excitement of watching Jose Reyes hit. Once, everyone worried about Reyes, worried about him getting hurt again, worried about him not walking enough. Now, you just marvel at him and wonder what amazing thing he’s going to do next to take your breath away.

So maybe the biggest hope for Mets’ fans is that feeling comes back when Wright steps to the plate. Until that feeling comes back, though, you worry. You watch. You hope. And maybe, you pray.