David Wright staying involved with the Mets but 'at an arm’s length'
SAN DIEGO – David Wright navigated the premises in a polo shirt, a stark difference from the jersey or pullover he would have been wearing the previous 15 seasons.
This is life after baseball for Wright, now a part-time special advisor for the New York Mets.
“I miss it. I miss a lot of the aspects of the game, the camaraderie, the clubhouse, the shenanigans. Competing,” Wright told Yahoo Sports. “I even miss the preparation, the game planning, the ins and outs. The one thing I don’t miss is physically the way I felt. I feel knock on wood better physically than when I played, just completely different lifestyle. A lot more of the aspects of the game I miss than I don’t miss but I definitely don’t miss the physical part of how I felt after the games and waking up in the morning.”
Wright officially hung up the spikes after last season and is now part of Brodie Van Wagenen’s rather large front office. Wright stressed that this is not a full-time role for him, but he’s enjoying the chance to be on the other side of the table.
He and Van Wagenen communicate constantly, be it through text or phone, and Wright even helped the team while it negotiated a contract extension with Jacob deGrom, offering them insight into the player's point of view.
Wright and deGrom are close friends, and deGrom’s $137.5-million extension fell just $500,000 short of Wright’s record $138-million extension with the Mets. The two have since joked about the small gap.
“I think he wanted to beat it more than I didn’t want him to beat it,” Wright said with a laugh. “For some reason, he set his mind — he texted me after it was done, I was $500,000 short and I said, 'five more All-Star games and maybe they’ll give you that $500,000.'”
Wright, who spends most of his time now between Virginia and California, envisions he’ll be stopping by New York at some point, and may even scout a minor league team.
“It’s about what I expected,” Wright said. “Selfishly, I certainly have other priorities and obligations. That's why it’s a very part-time thing for me but I stay involved, I’m on the emails for all the minor leagues and check up on that in the mornings, follow the games whether it’s watching them or following it from my phone. The 4 o’clock start times out west are tough because that’s when my daddy duties are supposed to be happening. I follow the game one way or another. … It’s been cool to stay involved but at an arm’s length.”
As Wright explored Petco Park during the series, several of his former teammates and even those who he had not played with made sure to greet him, including Edwin Diaz.
Wright enjoyed a proper send-off last September to celebrate his legendary career with the Mets that ended too early due to neck, back and shoulder issues.
The Mets are still paying Wright for the next two years although they reached an agreement with the insurance company since Wright was medically forced to retire.
“Opening day was strange although I hadn’t been [available for] the last couple of opening days, I’ve always been at the ballpark for opening day and that’s always been a special day for me,” Wright said. "That was obviously strange. I miss a lot of it, but it is what it is.”
Toward the end of Wright’s career, he was asked several times about whether he’d consider a career in baseball down the road, perhaps once his daughters are older.
Wright has enjoyed his new gig, but don’t expect him to succeed Van Wagenen.
“I don’t foresee myself – I guess I don’t want to speak in absolutes but I would say 99 percent sure there’s nothing I’d want to do full time,” Wright said. “I like staying involved but I enjoy the part-time part of it.”
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