For David Wright, The Coast Is Clear In The NL

By Deb McIver
Posted Monday, December 31, 2007

My, how the NL has changed this off-season!

Miguel Cabrera is now gone to the Tigers. Perennial MVP winner Barry Bonds may never play another game in the baseball uniform of ANY league, and instead, may use his time having his fingerprints and mug shots taken, and occupying a jail cell. The pitching in the NL is for the most part decidedly inferior to that of the AL. It might not be totally unfair, or totally inaccurate to say, at least at this point, that the NL more resembles a minor league playground for the powerhouse AL than it does the true “equal half” of the world that is major league baseball.

So I’m thinking about next year, and about David Wright, in particular. Fresh off his Gold Glove for his third base play this past year, his dogged determination in the last few weeks of the year, almost singlehandedly keeping the Mets postseason hopes alive, and his fourth-place finish in the NL MVP voting this year, I’m seriously wondering not if, but WHEN, David, already a young superstar, will firmly entrench himself in the annals of true, bona fide, irreversible superstardom in the cache of the baseball world.

And I don’t see why that year can’t be next year.

Let’s take a look, for example, at this year’s serious MVP candidates.

First, Jimmy Rollins, the winner of the award. It’s very fair to say he hardly won the award by runaway vote, and it’s also very fair to say that this past year was, indeed, his breakout year. While always a good to very good, solid player, with great defensive skills, some power, and speed, last year was the first year Jimmy received a Gold Glove and the first year that he truly showcased his full range of offensive skills, power numbers, stolen bases, and leadership qualities of the type that win a guy an MVP award.

Of course, it didn’t hurt that the Phillies ultimately won the division in the last week of the season.

Would he have won the MVP if the Phillies didn’t win the division? Maybe; I’m not so convinced that he DEFINITELY would have.

Rollins’ career statistics (http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/rolliji01.shtml) don’t exactly lead me to believe he can be a serious MVP contender year in and year out. And let’s not forget, he’s on a team with the very formidable Ryan Howard, and the erstwhile future MVP contender Chase Utley. Now those two REALLY do scare me, yikes!

Moving on to Matt Holliday (http://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hollima01.shtml), here we have, in fact, a guy whom I think can compete consistently for the top league honors in all categories, with the possible exception of the Gold Glove. He’s only getting better, he plays in the right park, and he’s in the right league.

I don’t know what Matt’s leadership qualities or other intangibles might be, and I do wonder if his numbers would ever be large enough to overcome any deficiencies he might have in those areas. Plus, he does play on the Rockies, and notwithstanding the NL crown they won this year, I just don’t see them continuing to be really competitive year in and year out.

If anyone is serious competition for Wright, though, it could be this guy, or maybe the one I’m going to talk about next.

Prince Fielder (http://www.baseball-reference.com/f/fieldpr01.shtml). Son of the estimable Cecil Fielder. Pedigree certainly reared its wonderful head in this case. Star of the Milwaukee Brewer offense, Prince has only been in the major leagues for a couple of years, but has shown solid power numbers and very good defense. Without a doubt, he’s the offensive star of the Brewer franchise, the leader of the pack, and should remain so for years to come.

Another serious contender for the league’s top honors for years to come, I think.

There are of course a few others well worth mentioning, and considering.

Like Albert Pujols, who is a constant and major threat. No need to even link his statistics here; we all know who and what he is. He’s proven umpteen times since he’s been in baseball that he is almost always a serious MVP candidate year in and year out.

Then there’s the Marlins’ Hanley Ramirez (http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/ramirha01.shtml), who is young, but very promising, but will probably have lots of trouble in a Marlins’ lineup that is becoming more anemic each passing day of Silly Season (as Mike McGann calls it).

We have the fringe guys such as Alfonso Soriano, who could really be a threat if he ever gets it all together, and David’s own teammates Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes, who fall in the Soriano category, in the humble opinion of this writer.

Then there are the Chipper Joneses, the Andruw Joneses, the older veteran stars whose stock has certainly decreased over the past few years, and I probably would include Scott Rolen in this group, as well.

I’m sure there are many others, and theoretically anyone can win the award, even a pitcher (a subject for another column…).

But now, let’s turn to David (http://www.baseball-reference.com/w/wrighda03.shtml).

I think we’d all be hard pressed to find one single thing we don’t like about David. I guess the winning of the Gold Glove last year for his third base play makes the one area of his game, his defense, much more credible in everyone’s eyes; that would have been, at least for this writer, one of the only aspects of David’s game that I might think deserved some criticism.

He’s the prototypical boy next door, wrapped in good looks, charm, a winning personality, and obvious love for the game. He’s engaging; he plays hard and gives it all he has, day in and day out. He actually gets upset when he doesn’t get a hit, or advance a runner, or fail to do his job on the field in any way whatsoever.

The only things that have thus far prevented him from breaking out in the leadership role of the Mets are, in no particular order, the presence of powerhouse star veterans Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Paul Lo Duca, Moises Alou, and maybe a couple of others. I’m not counting the pitchers here, but if I did, I suppose I’d also have to include Tom Glavine and Billy Wagner.

As much as I, you know, hate to do it, lol.

Of course, it would be a lovely problem for David and for all Mets fans if Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, or Jose Reyes all proved to have MVP-type years next year. My, my, who to vote for…… lol.

But anyway, the stars all appear to be in line for David to continue to improve upon his already impressive accomplishments since he’s been in the major leagues. His fourth-place finish in the MVP vote this past season, coupled with his Gold Glove, and his emerging leadership role on the Mets, may well bring David closer in line with the David Wright, world class superstar role on which edge he’s teetering right at this moment.

Considering the disappointment of the Mets teams of the last two years, I think claiming the ultimate team prize, a World Series championship, is probably utmost in David’s mind right now, and knowing him, he’s writing it on some virtual blackboard somewhere, 1,000 times a day, and practicing his defense, his swing, and his base-stealing skills the other couple of hours that he has left of his day.

When he’s not sleeping, or attending charity or Mets’ functions of some sort.

He’s the kind of guy you just WANT to win.

And in this writer’s opinion, the guy who WILL win, and win it all.

And sooner, rather than later.