A few months ago, Mets GM Omar Minaya said that the Mets lacked an “edge” when playing. Yesterday former Met great John Franco on XM’s Inside Pitch said the Mets lacked leadership in the clubhouse:
“You know, there’s still something missing there. I don’t know what it is the last couple of years. Watching them almost every day, there’s no leadership there. Nobody wants to step forward and be a leader. Something is missing and it’s hard to put your finger on it. They got some great, talented players - Reyes and Wright and Beltran, now Santana’s there – but I just can’t put my finger on it. It seems like, to me, they’re not having fun, even when they were winning. Playing in New York, the pressure cooker here, I’m sure there’s a lot of pressure on them, but they need to relax a little bit and look like they’re having fun. It kind of looks like they’re not having fun and everybody’s on their own page.”
Franco was specifically calling out David Wright:
“With the Mets, a guy like David Wright is a guy that I’m hoping – you know, I tried talking to him and tell him to come forward and be that guy, but I think David feels that being that he’s such a young player and you have the Delgados and Sheffields and veteran guys like that, he’s afraid that they’ll look at him like, ‘Be quiet and sit down.’ “
I agree with Franco about the need for leadership, but not about David being wimpy. For some reason the Mets have not made David Wright the captain.
In phase I of fixing the Mets for 2010 (since 2009 is lost), Omar and Jerry should make David Wright the official Captain. This will give him the props needed to start to lead the team. Without it, the Mets will lack edge and will lack leadership. A good edge and leadership go hand in hand and will win you an an extra 10 games a year. 9 more then needed in each of the last two years…
Posted by Steve in New York