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In a post to his blog for ESPN.com, Rob Neyer writes that David Wright will be the best third baseman in baseball during the next five years.
In fact, today, Neyer lists Wright only second to Alex Rodriguez.
…i enjoy and respect neyer’s analysis…the funny thing about rob, though, is that every time his name appears on my site, he inevitably gets clobbered by my readers for comments he made a few years ago regarding Jose Reyes…so much so, that when i hung out with rob and other bloggers during a convention in vegas last summer, he said he was waiting for me to confront him on it…he was joking of course…
By the way, to watch a highlight reel of Wright, click the video below, which was created by Nate…
I can see it. In 5 years, A-Rod will be 37 & Cabrera will have eaten his way to full-time DH. If D-Wright continues to improve, I can see him being one of the most complete hitters in the league.
Pretty good video, but no barehanded over the head catch from 2006? That might have been his best!!
Exactly what I was waiting for, I thought it might have been the last shot but when it was kept completely out I thought it was missing the best defensive play ever by DWright!
I like David Wright. In fact he’s my favorite player and I thought he was going to be great after I saw him for a couple of weeks in the majors. But trying to predict who the best 3rd baseman in baseball will be 5 years from now is worthless. Plus Wright still needs to improve on his defense if you want to start doing comparisons.
I guess you don’t put much weight in “Gold Gloves”? I tend to not put to much emphasise on Gold Gloves either. But if I was Wright.. I would be like “Hey, I won the gold glove, Bite me!”
butt head he dont need to improve in defense he just won gold glove
iknowmets, you can dish out the insults but you cant take them?
I don’t care what Gold Glove he won. 21 errors is too much. Trust me, he needs to improve his defense and you need to improve your grammar.
His all-around defense needs work (cough! throws!!! cough!) but he is probably the best in the league at charging bunts.
And yes, its an enjoyable, but ultimately worthless exercise trying to say who the top third baseman in the league will be post-A-Rod. Where have you gone Hank Blalock/Morgan Ensberg/Troy Glaus??
sometimes you have more errors because you got to more balls than the next guy and tried to make plays others would just let go for a hit. Or your throwing off your wrong foot becasue you got to a ball NO one else could. Sometimes an error stat doesn’t tell the entire story.
Bottom line is he is a GOLD GLOVE 3rd baseman that makes him the best defensive every day thirdbaseman in the NL.
good point
I’ll concede that David Wright has great range and athletic ability, but his arm needs refinement and he needs to focus on keeping his glove down.
His fielding percentage was near the bottom of the list of starting third basemen. His range factor and zone rating weren’t spectacular, which pretty much dispels the notion that he makes more errors because he gets to more balls.
Additionally, winning a gold glove doesn’t necessarily make him the best everyday 3B in the NL. It’s an an award based on voting, and is OFTEN the subject of intense debate. For Christ’s sake, Derek Jeter has won 3 Gold Gloves, and it’s unlikely that he was even in the top three defensively at his position any of those years.
hrmm.. i dont see the two best plays he ever made.. the over the head bare handed catch.. and the diving stop double play in philly
The one where he saved Wagner’s bacon? Yeah, that was awesome.
yea..looks like they are all clips from the ‘07 season…the best play is where he charged the popped up bunt but the Phillies pitcher, caught it, and threw out the runner on first….if only they won that game
“But can it be a Web Gem if he didn’t use his glove?”
That catch was a thang of beauty. It ranks right up there close to Mays’ catch of Wertz’s hit.
Man, I want April to come NOW!
I just love the very last few secs of video with the graphic “Go Get me Santana, Dammit!”
Priceless.
“I’m Gumby, damnit!”
man… can winter be over already?
actually, Neyer said Wright will be the best 3B *over* the next 5 years, which is better than saying *in* 5 years. his point is that if he could have any 3B for the next 5 years, Wright would be his choice.
Thank you, I was going to point that out, too. It makes a big difference.
Matt,
As a die-hard Met fan I was incredulous to Neyer’s opine that Alan Trammel (good player) was better than Derek Jeter. I cannot stand the Yankees but let’s get serious. Neyer, like many other ESPN pundits, either spit out articles because of deadline commitments or pander for their own selfish pursuits.
JD
“incredulous”
I am repossing your Thesaurus!!
“repossing”
I am reposessing your dictionary.
“reposessing”
to be fair, trammell was doing things at SS numbers-wise that were only being done better by Ripken, who came a little later. Trammell 20 yrs ago was the second best hitting SS in baseball, while Jeter has probably always hovered in the top 5 but was never that good relative to his peers. Defensively it isn’t close — Tram was probably the very best and Jeter is overrated due to his lack of range, tho he makes all the plays and is obviously clutch.
That said I’d take Jeter in a heartbeat but I wouldn’t say Neyer has another motive in making the opposite call, other than being old enough to be an adult when he watched both guys play.
Since the article is for subscribers only I didn’t read it. But maybe Neyer said it because Jeter has been one of the WORST defensive shortstops in baseball over the last decade. The gold gloves he won were a total joke.
There is rationale for Wright’s gold glove even if he isn’t the best glove at third in the league, but there is little for Jeter’s.
Trammell is probably the better overall player, the more I think about it. Bill James ranked him the 9th best SS ever, ahead of 14 Hall of Fame SS’s, 12 that played in a big market. If Trammell played for the Yanks and Jeter for Detroit I think more people would agree.
I have to disagree. Jeter has already surpassed Trammell’s career totals in every offensive category, with over 400 fewer games played. You can bump Trammells numbers a bit for having played in a less hitter-dominated era, but not 30 points BA and OBP. and 50 points SLG worth. Jeter’s almost a lock for 3000 hits, which is automatic HOF.
I wish I could claim that Jeter’s a terrible SS, but it’s just not the case. He may be overrated in general, but I think he’s probably underrated at this site. I give an edge to Trammell’s glove, but not enough to compensate for the bat.
Defensive statistics are questionable at best, but virtually every metric puts Jeter down in Hanley Ramirez territory (for a Met-centric reference, think about Gregg Jeffries’ or HoJo’s SS cameos. Yeesh. OK . . . maybe not that bad. . . .) He probably should have been a good teammate and offered to move to second when they signed A-Rod. Then again, A-Rod seems to have bulked up, so who knows?
What did Neyer say about Reyes? I dont remember…
that he was the most overrated player in the game
no, actually he didn’t say that, he said that Reyes was the worst every day player in the big leagues. I personally, have not allowed Neyer to forget that over the years, so having Neyer mention that to Matt is pretty funny, I’ve done a lot over the years to make sure Neyer remembered it.
Bravo darkstar, bravo.
David Wright is the greatest player in the history of the world, but raise your hand if you hold your breath every time he fields a routine ground ball and gets set to throw to first…
I don’t. In fact, I’m always surprised by his airmails because he otherwise makes so many spectacular plays. I was pretty shocked by his GG, though.
I agree FBones. I think it’s a mental thing. He is great defensively when it comes to stopping the ball, but when it comes to making the easy throws where he has plenty of time that’s where he screws up.
damn weve come along way since tim foli was our starting third basement lol but seriously if david can shore up his defense he will be the second coming of brooks robinson
ne1 agree??
5 years!!! Wow, get your tickets now for the 2013 season opener!
I’m sure by then someone else will come along.
“David Wright is the greatest player in the history of the world”
huh???? but i do agree that drite’s throwing needs to improve.
It was a joke…I did not mean that literally…
well after watching that its sort of reassuring. perhaps the mets will be fine without the ace everyone has been groveling about
everyone’s been lying prone in abject humility? :-)
to lie or crawl with the face downward and the body prostrate, esp. in abject humility, fear, etc. >>> exactly. after the collapse our confidence went out the window, and rightfully so, but its time to pick our heads up. but thanks for the dictionary post sister mary.
sister mary? jeez, lighten up, it was a joke.
sorry all this johan sh*t has me belligerent. i feel like i’m watching an extra long episode of who wants to be a millionaire, except its the meredith viera version and it just wont end.
no harm, no foul. and that’s funny because it’s true.
wright is definately in the top few 3b’s. it’s tough to say in three years b/c new guys always come from nowhere.
a-rod is clear #1. to me, cabrera is #2 with wright coming in 3rd
cabrera is great, great hitter. his defense is pretty bad, but it sounds like he’s in good shape for the upcoming season. love wright, but he’s not at a point where pitcher fear him at the plate causing him to change the line-up. clearly his #’s exploded with beltran behind him who had more hr, rbi despite missing a bunch of games
I agree that Cabrera’s a better hitter right now, but I disagree that pitchers don’t fear Wright. Once he started clocking those outside pitches….
And I bet if Jose’s good month hadn’t coincided with DWright’s bad month, or if Jose had had one more GoodJose-type month, Wright would’ve had 15-20 more ribbies. But that’s neither here nor there.
i’d rather have reyes or beltran up in a huge situation.
in mlb, the only guys that i’d put on cabrera’s level with the bat are pujols, a-rod, manny, and ortiz.
I’d say this. Cabrera changes the way pitchers pitch to a lineup because you can pitch around him and not have a Beltran behind him. Pitchers were forced to pitch to David; they had no choice.
When David was in front of Delgado you saw him get pitched around more as Delgado struggled so I don’t think that argument holds much weight.
really? why? I mean, I know he didn’t come through every time (that philly game springs to mind).
I agree that those guys are in their own class. I understand now what you meant by “feared”…i.e., “scared shitless by”. But I do think Wright is…well,feared, but to a lesser degree.
Last season:
Wright’s OPS with men on: 1.004. Scoring position: .975. Close and late: 1.037.
Reyes’ OPS with men on: .758. Scoring position: .766. Close and late: .747.
Beltran’s OPS with men on: .852 Scoring position: .802. Close and late: .627
Last three seasons:
Wright: .955/.976/.882
Reyes: .795/.831/.742
Beltran: .930/.931/.821
Why would you prefer Beltran and Reyes in a big spot?
not trying to kill wright. i think he’s excellent.
we forget how good reyes is b/c of the bad end of the season. first half of the year people were talking about him being the best player in mlb. he was in the top 5 in mlb in intentional walks.
beltran has been immortal in the playoffs. wright was bad in his first shot. i’m sure he’ll be better if the mets get back this year.
Cabrera and Wright had an identical OPS+ last season. Coupled with David’s superior defense, the case can certainly be made that he’s a superior all-around player. Additionally, with David, there’s no question about his maturity, attitude and physical condition, unlike Cabrera.
That video is awesome.
where’s “The Catch”?
anybody else notice the preponderance of ollie in that video? that’s a lot of help he’s getting from dw.
come on now david wright is the best if it were to people that started their career at third . chipper out the picture, a-rod shortstop, miguel cabrera left field future dh, garett atkins not up to wrights level, adrain beltre no, aramis ramirez no, ryan braun well will hit more homeruns than wright surely proved it but wont steal more bases than wright will strike out a ton more, defense not even close now i need some true mets fans to take my back on it
And Braun will likely open this season as a LF.
Okay, so we probably won’t be getting Johan, but we do still have David!
hands down the best in national league now that miggy is at detroit
Silly Mets fans…He’s not the best in the NL(Chipper), but I will say he is the best non-switch hitting 3B in the NL.
perhaps, but missing 25, 53, 52 and 28 games the last 4 seasons doesn’t help his cause.
Yeah Trammel is better than Jeter…..let’s see..
Jeter (who is not even close to slowing down) will finish with probably 1,000 more hits than Trammel. Alan Trammel had over 175 hits only once in his career.
Top 10 hits- Trammel-(once) Jeter (10 and counting)
Top 10 MVP- Trammel (3) Jeter (6)
BA -Trammel (5) Jeter (8)
OBA- Trammel (4) Jeter (5)
Runs – Trammel (3) Jeter (9)
goes on and on…lets not even talk Postseason either……Yes, Jeter played on better teams but lets get serious…..
Next thing you will tell me is that if Ivan Dejesus played on the yankees he would hit .300 too……
Neyer deserves to get lambasted indefinitely for his ridiculous remarks about Reyes.
First, once again, we should thank Mike Hampton for finding a better school system.
Second, gbaked wrote:
“man… can winter be over already?”
I live in Wisconsin and can assure you that winter is alive and all too well. It was -16 degrees when I got up this morning!
holy cow, man! how do humans live in that kind of cold? I mean, I’ve had my share of 0 degrees and all, but not for months at a time!
Nate:
Video uses violate copyright laws. (Any rebroadcast, reproduction, or other use of the pictures and accounts of this game without the express written consent of Major League Baseball is prohibited.)
Audio: Violates English language
Amazing how Youtube is still allowed to operate the millions of examples of copyright infringement.
That’s “Video used”
thank you, debbie downer.
2005:
“Rob, the error’s in the last two games aside, do you think Wright and Reyes have the potential to become the best left side combo in baseball? Thanks…
Neyer’s response…
No, I don’t. Wright’s a fine young player and will only get better, but Reyes is, at the moment, one of the very worst everyday players in the majors.”
reyes stats, 2005:
99r 190h 24d 17t 7hr 58rbi 60sb .273avg
neyer said something stupid and gets slammed for it. he’s
a professional. he should not make declarative statements
out of his behind. doesn’t mean he isn’t a good writers. he
was trying to get attention and it worked
what a jackass… i think i remember reading that in 2005, and shaking my head at the ridiculousness of the comment. for that very reason, i put very little stock into anything he says nowadays.
The thing I dislike about Neyer is that he seems to only see in black and white. His opinions always seem to be one extreme or the other. And god forbid you disagree with his assessment of a given player…
Great video of David Wright. And combine that w/ Lupe Fiasco, probably the best up-and-coming rapper out there, and it’s a gem. Both are exciting and refreshing young stars in their respective industries. Kudos to Nate for the video.
Is it just me, or did David save Ollie’s bacon a ridiculous amount of times in that video? Damn, it seems like every time there was a scorching shot down the line snagged by David, O.P. was on the mound.