Some snippets of commentary from the panel chatting about possible contract extensions for the Mets with David Wright and R.A. Dickey.
Vince Gennaro on the reported offer the Mets have made to David Wright:
“I have some issues with it in that I think it’s really in that high-risk zone. You’ve got a guy in Wright who had a 1.014 OPS through late July. Then for the rest of the year, 65 games to end the year, he came in at .698. So he went from an MVP candidate for the first-half of the year to a little more like a Ryan Theriot for the back half of the year. I just worry when you see that kind of extended run of a couple of months with that kind of performance. . . . It’s risky at that level.”
John Hart on the Mets trying to negotiate a contracts extension with Wright:
“I think the Mets are kind of caught a little bit in a no man’s land. They’re a large market…They haven’t been able to, if you will, take care of some things in the years leading up to this. They’re jumping into a market where players are getting enormous amounts of money.”
Hart on the Mets negotiating with Wright prior to the Winter Meetings:
“If he’s gonna sign and if he does, they go to the Winter Meetings with David Wright in their pocket. If not, then they have a chance to make a deal.”
Gennaro on Wright’s contract situation:
“This is a complicated scenario. I just get very nervous about plunking all of those dollars, particularly given the Mets’ financial situation, down on one player.”
Gennaro on the unique scenario R.A. Dickey presents to the Mets:
“This is one of those where there is absolutely no precedent. A guy has the best year of his career at age 37, wins the Cy Young Award out of nowhere, throws an 80-plus-miles-per-hour knuckleball . . . Attribute after attribute, it’s totally unique . . . I think the Mets need to step up and make a legitimate offer, but I think they need to give a lot of thought to where they come in on this.”
Hart on what he would offer Dickey:
“I’d like to do two [years]. I would probably end up going to three and being reasonably comfortable. . . . I don’t want a no-trade clause in that deal.”