Washington Nationals Editorial: Is Anthony Rendon The Best Third Baseman In NL East?

#4 – David Wright – New York Mets

In most years, we would see the Mets’ third baseman near or at the top of this list. Wright, who is the captain of the Mets, did not see much action in 2015 because of a back condition called spinal stenosis. He played in only 38 games and had a slash line of .289/.379/.434 with five home runs and 17 RBI’s.

Even though Wright didn’t make that much of an impact on-the-field, he was a leader in the clubhouse, which was valuable for a young team. Everyone can remember the story in spring training when he got in Noah Syndergaard’s face for eating lunch in the clubhouse during an intrasquad game.

With Yoenis Cespedes back in New York, there will be less pressure on the 33-year-old Wright to get back to his form from 2012 when he hit 21 home runs. Nevertheless, the seven-time All-Star can still be a contributing player to the Mets when he’s healthy. Defensively, Wright has made 19 errors in the last two seasons, but he did have 13 runs saved in 2014 (tied for third in the league). Last year, however, he had -8 runs saved, but how much of that was because of the back injury?

With the addition of Asdrubal Cabrera at shortstop, the Mets can also use Wilmer Flores at third base. Flores is a good offensive third baseman as evident by his 16 home runs last season, but can he fix his defensive issues after making 14 errors at shortstop last year? In the end, the Mets have more questions at third base coming into the year, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Wright has a bounceback season.

Next: #3 - Martin Prado