Lets face it Mets fans, David Wright cannot and shouldn't be the leader of the New York Mets.  I thought about this a lot last night and came up with three solid reasons why I believe this is true, comparing the last two seasons to the rest of his career.

1. He always seemed to be more comfortable as second fiddle

I always thought this was obvious, but maybe it was just me.  If you don't believe me look at David's statistics from 2005-2008 and compare them to his last two seasons.  From 2005-2008 Wright had considerably better seasons because guys like Pedro, Glavine, and Delgado were able to deflect a lot of the spotlight and pressure away from him.  But last year and this year, his numbers have dropped from that pre 2009 level.  Many will blame it on the large dimensions of Citi Field, but I think some it has to do with Wright becoming this forced leader with Delgado, Glavine, and Pedro now gone.

2. The strikeouts

I don't want to harp just on the individual statistics of David Wright to try to prove my point, but listen to this.  Wright's career high in strikeouts going into 2009 was 118 and now including this season he will post two consecutive 140+ strikeout seasons.  You can't help your team win if you don't put the ball in play.  These strikeout totals are indicator to me that Wright feels the pressure that is now upon him.  You can't be the leader on the field, when you lead the team in strikeouts.

3. His comments

In his defense, Wright is always by his locker after a game win or lose, but most of his comments are lacking.  I'm not really sure how to explain what I mean by "lacking", so I will give you a recent example.  When ask about the K-Rod incident, Wright answered, "You don’t ever want it to get to the point it got to yesterday.  Guys make mistakes and you have to pay the consequences for those mistakes. I hope young players in here learn that you do have choices and decisions."  A very political response in regards to a difficult situation, but like I said it was lacking.  His response should have condemned all K-Rod's actions and he also should have said there is no room for that kind of stuff, PERIOD.  He is unable to be critical of people, and is constantly trying to appease everyone.

David Wright is my favorite player, but in no means should he be the leader of this team.  In his defense he has basically been forced into that role since there was no one else to take it.  The Mets need to add leadership to this team if they intend on winning next season, whether it be in a new manager or player.  Wright needs to get back to being that second fiddle, not just for his sake, but for the team's success.