The 32-year-old third baseman may be in the best shape of his life.
We're almost there, people! You know spring training is coming up when we start hearing about how David Wright is ITBSOHL. The veteran third baseman missed the end of the 2014 campaign with a shoulder injury, but he's working out like crazy in Port St. Lucie in order to be ready for the start of what is sure to be a banner year for New York.
"I fully expect us to be in the playoffs," the 32-year-old Wright said of the upcoming season. He was 23 the last time the Mets were in the postseason. "It's not coming out here and boasting, but I think where we stand right now, we're a much better team than we were last year and in years past. You win with young, dominant pitching and we have quite a bit of that, and offensively, we are going to be better than we have been."
I miss young, cigar-sucking David Wright as much as the next Mets fan, but I'm not sure this year's squad can reach its potential without older, battle-hardened David Wright.
"For me, personally, last year sucked," Wright said. "When you have a passion for something and you fail at it, I want to make sure that never happens again. If I do what I'm capable of doing, we're a different lineup."
According to ZiPS, Wright could be close to a four-win player in 2015 after being worth just two wins in 2014. Of course, that wimpy computer wasn't taking into account all the hard-core strength stuff that Wright is doing this winter.
"I feel really good," a sweat-soaked Wright told The Post this past week after a grueling 2½-hour workout at the Mets' new Barwis Methods indoor training facility located under the right-field stands at Tradition Field. "I'm 100 percent confident that I will be physically ready to go."
The "Barwis Methods" are an offeseason training regimen developed by Mike Barwis, who apparently has a show on Discovery Channel. Wright is hoping that the new system gives the Mets the edge they need to compete for the postseason in the National League this year.
"I've always worked out in the offseason, but I wish I would have had something like this earlier in my career," Wright said.
If only Wright was working out like this in 2006, he probably would have stopped Carlos Beltran from striking out and won the next three World Series all by himself. Better late than never.