PORT ST. LUCIE — David Wright has a serious case of Jeter Envy.
Can you blame him? The Captain has five rings and is hoping to go out a champion again in his final season with the Yankees. Captain America has zero rings. The Mets own five straight losing seasons and haven’t been to the playoffs since 2006.
Wright is beloved by fans just like Derek Jeter, but he is Jeter Light, the classy player with no rings and just that one postseason appearance.
When asked Thursday if he is getting impatient at the age of 31, Wright said, “Of course. Impatient is an understatement. You look at what he has accomplished. The type of player that [Jeter] is, the type of person that he is is something that I’ve looked up to at a very young age and I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve gotten to grow up seeing one of the best to ever do it, seeing it firsthand.
“I am envious, jealous of what he has accomplished in his career — the winning,’’ Wright said with passion. “Not even so much what he has accomplished numbers-wise, but I think what he has been able to accomplish with that team as a leader, the winning. It’s something that every young player, every player in general kind of strides to be.’’
The words were now rolling out of Wright’s mouth like Mets losing seasons.
“I feel like I blink and I’m 10 years into a major league career,’’ Wright said. “I’d like to win before I get to the point where I feel I can’t do it at a high level anymore. You feel that urgency [to win] when you feel like just yesterday you were 21 years old and now, all of a sudden you’re 31. I still feel like I got a lot in the tank, but at the same time, I know how fast this 10 years went by and I hope these next seven don’t go by as nearly as fast.’’
By the time Jeter was 31 he owned four World Series rings and had played in six World Series. Over the course of his magnificent career, Jeter has played in 158 postseason games with 650 at-bats, 20 home runs, 61 RBIs and a .308 average. He has appeared in 38 World Series games and is a lifetime .321 hitter. Jeter has played in 33 postseason series. Wright has played in two.
In New York, it’s all about October.
Wright, of course, has never played in a World Series game. He has just 10 postseason games under his belt, 37 at-bats, a .216 average, one home run and six RBIs.
Wright believes the Mets, whose payroll is going to be about $88 million in 2014, have improved, but will they play meaningful games in September? Will they ever make it back to October?
Asked if he felt the Mets could have done more to make this team better this offseason, Wright said, “I’m probably kind of like the fans, where you want to go out there and sign every player but at the end of the day, it’s easy to give away somebody else’s money and say, ‘I want to sign every good free agent there is.’ ’’
Jeter came up with the Core Four. Wright has played with the Core Poor.
Have the Mets lived up to their promises of improving the team by spending money after signing Wright to that eight-year, $138 million contract?
“It’s not an overnight fix,’’ Wright said diplomatically. “You can’t rebuild an entire culture or team in one offseason. It’s going to be up to the guys that have been there to do their part as well. The commitment to spend money is there. We had a lot of money come off the books and we spent a lot of that money. A lot of that gets overshadowed by the money the Yankees spent this offseason.’’
No, you can’t blame David Wright for having a serious case of Jeter Envy.