David Wright is willing to make at least one prediction about his baseball future: The dollars probably won’t matter as much as the opportunity to win championships.
After avoiding the topic of his contract for most of the summer, the Mets third baseman told The Post he is “optimistic” he will remain long-term with the only organization for which he has played, but he also needs to see in what direction the franchise is headed.
Wright is enduring a fourth straight August with almost no hope of reaching the playoffs. The Mets are expected to pick up his $16 million option for 2013 once this season concludes, and then have the winter to negotiate a long-term contract with the 29-year-old, who is poised to test free agency if he doesn’t have a deal in place by next March.
“The money issue for me, I don’t think that will be the deciding factor,” said Wright, who is batting .325 with 16 homers and 75 RBIs and .416 on-base percentage in the final guaranteed season of his six-year contract worth $55 million.
More important, he says, is a chance to win the World Series.
“You want to be able to win, and I’ve only experienced a little bit of that here,” Wright said. “In a perfect world, we get this thing turned around and going in the right direction and ultimately I get to experience the bad, the ugly and the good here, which includes winning.”
Wright was asked to assess the Mets’ chances of reaching that goal. The Mets are 55-60 and third in the NL East as they prepare to open a three-game series tonight in Cincinnati.
“We’ve taken a baby step in the right direction and I still think there’s a long way to go before you can say that we’ve kind of turned that corner where I think that we will,” he said.
But Wright pointed to prospects Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler as reason to believe the Mets can rebuild their pitching in the same manner as the NL East-leading Nationals.
Wright said he has been “frustrated” by the last several seasons. That answer came in response to a question about whether he felt respected by the organization.
One of Wright’s friends from outside the organization was later asked what the third baseman meant by the comment.
“Very simple: Winners want to win and David desperately needs to win,” the person said. “Everything flows from that desire and need.”
Wright said the Mets have respected his request to delay contract talks until after the season. That will leave the Mets with essentially a four-month window of exclusive negotiating rights with Wright.
“I told these guys we’re not going to discuss it during the season, either this one or next, so I guess that’s a fair assumption,” Wright said. “If we’re not going to talk about it during this season or next season, then I guess the timing would be during this offseason.”
Wright can only guarantee he will be listening closely to what the Mets have to say.
“Coming up through the system, I have a tremendous amount of loyalty to this organization,” Wright said. “I can’t tell you what the future holds, but I’m hoping — optimistic — that something will get done.”
* Reliever Tim Byrdak, on the disabled list with a torn anterior capsule in his left shoulder (the same injury Johan Santana and Chris Young had) and also a meniscus problem in his right knee, has scheduled a date for surgery.
The lefty tweeted yesterday: “Surgery scheduled for September 5 getting the capsule repaired and the right meniscus fixed. Holy painkillers Batman!”