SO THAT the Mets can say yes to the postseason this season, David Wright has been saying no.
Wright, 25, cut back on many possible endorsement deals and promotional activities this year because he did not want any of that to get in the way of what he and the Mets are trying to accomplish as they try to rebound from the Classic Collapse of 2007.
“I just thought that with what happened at the end of last year and with the way that I felt personally and where I wanted to get as a team, I thought it would be best suited to go ahead and forget about that stuff and basically just concentrate on doing whatever I personally individually could do to get ready for the next season,” Wright said earlier this week.
How many potential deals have been shelved? “Quite a few, especially living in New York,” he said. “It seemed like daily things.
“I made the decision to turn away everything and let me focus on staying in a routine to get in the best shape possible and make sure to get baseball stuff done.
“It was the best decision, 100 percent. I think too many times it’s too easy to get distracted with these perks that come along with playing in New York than just focusing on the task at hand, especially with what happened at the end of last year.”
“That’s a great decision by David,” said his third base counterpart with the Yankees, Alex Rodriguez, who knows something about being in demand. “I tell the young guys that baseball has to come first, second and third.”
Last year Wright made several significant business trips in the offseason.
“I have a great relationship with Nike so I went out there and designed my own shoe in Oregon,” he explained. “I went to San Diego to do stuff for the video game.
“All that stuff is a tremendous honor, but I just felt this year I wanted to focus on getting in the best physical state that I possibly could and make sure I could get the baseball stuff that I wanted to get accomplished done.”
Wright said the Mets are ready to go.
“I’ve noticed a different intensity this spring than I’ve noticed in the past,” he said.
“Granted, I haven’t been through a lot of spring trainings, but I’ve been through enough to know there is a different attitude and there is a different swagger and a different intensity to this spring training.”
The Mets realize they blew it last September.
“Absolutely,” Wright said. “We had every thing right there in front of us. We still could have finished the season bad, but we finished the sea son miserably, so it definitely was a lost opportunity.
“You see in guys ca reers like Carlos Del gado, he’s been to the playoffs once and he’s been in the big leagues for (15) years so you have to take advantage of those opportunities when they present themselves. Last year it was there for us to take and we couldn’t get the job done so that’s a lost opportunity.
“We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to the front office, these guys put together a great team, they’ve paid a lot of money for a great team. I think we owe it to the coaching staff.
“I think they got unfairly blamed a lot at the end of last year and obviously, New York and the fans, they come out and support us and provide us with a great homefield advantage and for us to finish the season the way we did last year was inexcusable and unacceptable for New York.”
Now with the real season beginning, it’s time to move.
“There’s no doubt we have a great team on paper, but there’s a difference between being a great team on paper and going out and getting the job done,” he said.
“That was a tough learning experience to have to go through but we have a young core group of guys.
“We’ve been through it and now we know what to expect in a late September playoff push and hopefully we don’t make the same mistakes twice.”