It was bound to happen sometime. After a season full of making the wrong decision just about every time they were faced with making one, the Mets did the right thing with David Wright. The scary beaning he suffered on Saturday gave him a concussion, and the Mets placed him on the disabled list Sunday to give him two weeks to recover.
That's the wisest course of action to take, even if it didn't seem like the one the Mets were going to take. Jerry Manuel repeatedly said he was planning to give Wright "the benefit of the doubt" about returning to the lineup, and, dangerously, turned it into a toughness issue.
"You have to be careful into stereotyping individuals. David is a different animal, so to speak. How he is made up is a little different than, say, Ryan Church, in my opinion. That's not to say that one is better than the other, but they're different. ... With Ryan, there was always something thrown from leftfield - 'We need to check that.' That made it somewhat difficult to evaluate that particular situation."
Maybe it was difficult to evaluate that particular situation because Church's brains were scrambled and got worse because you acted like he just needed to rub a little dirt on it and get back in the ball game?
The opinions of Wright's doctors were thankfully given more weight than the rantings of a manager whose own desire to keep his job can't be overlooked. Without Wright, the Mets will certainly be trotting out the worst lineup in the big leagues more often than not and that's not good for anyone's job security. Manuel can only hope that he can get the third string to play hard for him, something he hasn't done, because they aren't capable of much else.
And that doesn't matter. What's the difference right now if the Mets lose 87, 90 or 93 games? Pride?
That went out the window a helluva long time ago and placing Wright on the DL is actually a step toward replacing it. Treating your players with respect shows pride in your organization, not letting the whims of one person affect the lives of everyone else shows pride and, more than anything else, understanding that you've made mistakes in the past and refusing to repeat them shows pride.
Sports
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.
