On Mets.com today, Anthony DiComo sat down with David Wright to discuss his career to date as well as the goals he’s set in the midst of the second phase of his career.
Here’s an excerpt from DiComo’s outstanding story:
“It’s actually better to drink coffee later in the day,” Wright is saying. “I read somewhere that when you first wake up, your body produces a chemical even stronger than coffee, so you don’t really need it.”
This is the new normal for Wright, something he’s been perfecting for the past half-decade of his life. Long a creature of routine, Wright has molded that into an obsession in his 30s, relying more and more on rigorous preparation to maintain his health.
Among his quirks: Wright tries to sleep for nine hours a night, every night. His wife makes him breakfast most mornings, though it takes some pressing for him to reveal that he doesn’t cook it himself. On Sundays, the two of them hard-boil enough eggs to last the week. Wright puts avocados “on everything.” He drinks one coffee per day, never two. He avoids most clubhouse foods, eating a salad each day from a personalized metal bowl. On road trips, he goes nowhere without his resistance band and a foam roller, which he uses early in the afternoon, five or six hours before game time, as part of an elongated workout routine.
Combined, those habits represent Wright’s realization that health is no longer easy to come by at age 32. Over his first six big league seasons, Wright averaged 156 games per year. In his next four, that number plummeted to 126.
It was before most of his major injuries that the Mets committed financially to him for a second time, giving Wright eight years and $138 million in December 2012. Had he waited a year and tested free agency, many agents and front-office executives believe he would have made closer to $200 million.
And yet the deal represented a significant risk for the budget-conscious Mets — the type of contract that general manager Sandy Alderson loathes doling out to players in their 30s. In this case, the GM relented in large part because of what Wright brings off the field, considering them the same types of attributes that can help keep him on it.
Said Alderson: “You’ve got to bet on somebody, and he’s a good guy to bet on.”
To read the entire story, which includes quotes from former GM’s Steve Phillips and Jim Duquette, check out MLB.com.
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