The Mets have been tough to watch over the past several weeks. While 2013 was never expected to be more than a rebuilding year, the team has been without David Wright—its captain and undoubtedly best player—for seven weeks.
Since then, the Mets have scored 3.33 runs per game in 45 games. For the season, the Miami Marlins are the only team in baseball that's averaged fewer runs per game than the Mets have scored without Wright. The Mets' lineup also lost Marlon Byrd and John Buck to a trade and Ike Davis to injury, but no player has been missed more than Wright.
With offense around the league much lower than it was even two years ago, Wright's still putting up excellent numbers. Before his hamstring injury, Wright hit .309/.391/.512 with a .391 wOBA and 155 wRC+. The slash line alone is impressive enough, but the league- and park-adjusted wRC+ really puts things in perspective. Among players with at least 400 plate appearances this year, here's who Wright trails in the metric: Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, Chris Davis, Yasiel Puig, Jayson Werth, Andrew McCutchen, Paul Goldschmidt, and Joey Votto.
So Wright has been the ninth-best hitter in baseball this season, and he's having one of the best years of his great career. Throw in his good baserunning and defense, and Wright's 5.7 fWAR still ranks fourteenth for the season, even though he's missed such a significant chunk of time.
Wright is set to return to the Mets' lineup tonight in Philadelphia. He'll undoubtedly make the team's last ten games more watchable than most of the last forty-five were. And he'll face Cole Hamels, against whom he has hit .339/.381/.627 in 64 plate appearances, in his first game back.