Derek Jeter (REUTERS)
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PORT ST. LUCIE — Fred Wilpon called David Wright “our Jeter” three days ago. I think the Mets’ CEO is underselling his de facto captain’s upside.
Ponder what Wright can be to Mets fans if he gets his World Series title over the next eight seasons. It could trump the Jeter-Yankees dynamic thanks to what Wright referred to as the “roller-coaster ride” he and Mets fans have experienced over their first nine seasons together.
“Obviously, you’re frustrated as a player. I’m sure the fans are frustrated,” Wright told The Postyesterday morning at Tradition Field. “But ultimately, to kind of come back and build that up, to get to that point again, would be pretty special.
“And that’s one of the big reasons why I wanted to end my career here, is that it wouldn’t be fulfilling to me to only have that one playoff appearance [in 2006], that little taste of success, and move on to a different chapter. I think that would eat at me. As I’ve said a million times, I don’t think it would be as special to me to win somewhere else.”
Wright of course appreciated Wilpon’s praise, and he played the humility card in response.
“I think that’s the ultimate compliment,” the third baseman said. “I think that it’s probably undeserved. I think that I’d like to have the type of career that [Jeter] has had. I’d like to carry myself the way he’s carried himselfA lot of the good things that he’s done.
“Most importantly, I don’t have the rings that he has.”
The New York icons became friendly as Team USA teammates in the 2009 World Baseball Classic.
“My locker was next to [Jeter’s],” Wright said. “I got a chance to pick his brain a little bit. He was awesome. … It solidifies the reason that I kind of look up to him the way that I do, is the way that he treated me during the WBC.”
You’d be foolish to wager Wright will ever surpass Jeter in, say, career hits or, to sharpen the argument, World Series rings. Where Wright can prevail, though (besides home runs) is in the strength of bond between player and followers.
Wright’s only slip-ups have occurred on the field — an ill-timed strikeout against the Cubs in September 2008, for instance. Those are quickly forgiven. Jeter, his reputation notwithstanding, has engaged in his share of intramural clashes over the years that forced Yankees enthusiasts to take sides. Think Jeter vs. Chad Curtis (1999), Jeter vs. Alex Rodriguez (2004-08, primarily) and Jeter vs. the Yankees front office (2010).
In each of these instances, Jeter thought he was entirely, unquestionably right. Wright is more open to the notion he might be wrong on occasion. Or, he’s better at taking the high ground, like when Wilpon dissed him two years ago in a New Yorker interview.
“I’m welcome to [criticism] because if I’m being moody, if I’m in a bad mood, if I’m high-maintenance, I want somebody to say, ‘You know what? You’re in one of those moods today,’ ” Wright said. “I want somebody that’s there that tells me the truth. That’s what I have first from my family, but my friends, the people I hang out with have no problem telling me that, trust me.”
During the Yankees’ “drought” of 2001-08, in which the team missed the playoffs just once, but never won it all, Jeter repeatedly differentiated the changed personnel from their predecessors featuring Tino Martinez and Paul O’Neill. He came off as sour.
Wright, on the other hand, has played through the last-day heartbreaks of 2007 and 2008 and the four losing seasons which have followed and has seen his duped owner dramatically slash payroll. Nevertheless, he has never emitted bitterness and insists he has never felt it.
“You’re talking about this relationship with the Mets goes back now 12 years. I feel like I want to show the same loyalty to the organization that they’ve showed to me,” Wright said. “Of course you get frustrated when things don’t go your way, when we’ve endured what we’ve endured the last couple of seasons. But in the grand scheme of things … I get a chance to play baseball for a living and make a very nice living doing this, and that’s because of this organization.”
Jeter has set the bar very high. It’s not unsurpassable for Wright, though. He has the team adversity and the personal qualities. All he needs is the ring.
“It would be really, truly fulfilling, to see both ends of the spectrum,” Wright said.