Hot Stove Coal: Jason Bay to "Roam" Citi Field

Mike Francesa had an announcement to make at the beginning of his show today. I guess the Mets are letting WFAN scoop their stories because his big story was that the New York Mets had signed Jason Bay. Matt Cerrone of MetsBlog had the scoop that they had signed him to a 4-year deal for around $16.5 million a year to be heavily back-loaded.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post has more details (his writing in italics)

The Mets have reached agreement on a four-year, $66 million agreement with Jason Bay pending a physical, The Post has learned.

That's not so bad. The Mets were hesitant to bend on the 4 years so this makes sense, right?

Bay had been seeking at least a five-year deal. The Mets did not not bend on four guaranteed years,

Ok, nice job Mets, but why is there that comma in there...?

but the Post has been told that the fifth-year trigger for the option will not be difficult to reach if Bay is indeed healthy throughout the life of the contract.

So there we go...it's a 5-year deal. Oy But why didn't the Mets announce it?

Mets officials refused to confirm the agreement, largely because the results of a physical are not complete and the Mets do not want to embarrass themselves by confirming a deal then having to back away should Bay not pass the physical -- think the humiliation and legal hassle with Yorvit Torrealba a few years back.

Yeah...um...but the physical is just a formality, right?

And the physical might not be a formality. There has been a lot of talk in the sport that the Red Sox were hesitant to do a long-term deal with Bay because they were concerned about the health of his shoulders.

Oh boy. This just screams of disaster for the Mets. Bay was a Mets prospect (the picture above his from Sports Memorabilia.com) who they let get away in Jeff-Kent-like fashion. They seemed destined this offseason to get him back when the Red Sox signed Mike Cameron. The Mets seemed willing to wait for Bay to settle into their numbers, but felt the time was right to pounce now.

So the Mets are getting a good bat who is a negative defender, negative runner, and may have bad shoulders...but if he doesn't, he'll probably vest the 5th year of this deal which the Mets were trying to avoid giving him. Hmmm. Maybe the Mets were better off looking for players in Japan where the Mets are "highly regarded."

I think Bay makes them a better team, but I'm not sure how much better. The OF is cavernous in Citi Field and Bay even had trouble making up the ground to cover Fenway Park with the Green Monster in LF. So that's why the "roaming" in the title of the post is in quotes. Jason Bay isn't exactly Gold Glove Barry Bonds out there in LF. More like Barry Bonds in the 2002 World Series. The Mets may be able to hide Bay in LF for a year or two if Carlos Beltran comes back and plays a Gold Glove-caliber CF, but how much longer will Beltran do that and how much longer can the Mets afford to keep Bay in the outfield...especially without a DH spot to move him to. The Mets got away with having Carlos Delgado, a negative defender at 1st base for a few years, so maybe they can hide it for a while.

But with no extensive market for Bay now that Mark DeRosa had signed with the Giants, I don't think Omar Minaya needed to move so quickly. That all being said, the Mets finally got the slugger they were looking for. And Bay in the middle of that lineup--when/if everyone is healthy--is a good fit. A top 6 of Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo, David Wright, Bay, Beltran, and Bengie Molina (if they finalize signing him) would be very good (although very right-handed). And Bay killed the Yankees early in the season last year so I'm glad to see him gone from the AL. But this almost seems like a case of the Mets worrying about not being able to give away their money and trying even harder to do so.