Remain on the edge of your seats…the Jason Bay watch is still ongoing! Hello fans and welcome on back! Well as you know, the Mets have indeed offered a contract to free agent leftfielder Jason Bay. The deal – which is reported to be heavily backloaded – currently stands at 4 years for 63 million dollars and Bay has neither accepted nor refused it up to this point. Since the offer has been issued, I’ve been reading here and there that some people believe that the Mets have only given this offer to Bay to appease their fanbase, make it look like they’re doing something that isn’t behind the curtain. In a nutshell, some people believe that this offer is a joke offer that the Mets have indifferently handed out while knowing without a doubt that there is no shot of acceptance. I for one wouldn’t go that far.
It’s true that Jason Bay is hunting for 5-yr+ pact, undoubtedly with a higher salary than the one the Mets are offering. Aside from the Mets offer, the only other known offer he has received – complete with brass tacks – is the one he received from his former club the Boston Red Sox, a 4 yr deal for 60 million dollars, just 3 million bucks fewer than what the Mets are offering. Bay rejected the pact, and has been shopping around ever since. Now while it’s true the Mets offer is surely not what Bay is looking for exactly, I don’t think Omar and his crew dished the contract out merely to appease their fan base. So if that was the case, if Omar really was taking a 63 million dollar gamble, and Bay – hypothetically speaking – accepted it, then what would he do? Would he go all Indian giver and say to Bay "Just kidding!" No way. No, I think the Mets have legitimate interest in Bay, and are just making their first offer a lowball one, and seeing if he’ll bite, though it is highly doubtful.
And there’s nothing wrong with lowballing in my eyes. In fact I find it smart. Why offer Bay the world, when he may accept a more economical package to come to New York? That said, I don’t seriously believe Bay will accept the Mets offer, especially since it is really similar to Boston’s offer, except the Mets providing Bay with much less of a sure shot at winning, having lost 25 more games in ’09 then the Red Sox did. I think it’s going to take a 5th year guaranteed, and possibly some more money per year to lock one of the top 3 free agents of this offseason up. But I like the lowball “feeler” tactic, it’s a smart way to begin negotiation. I’ll also admit that of all 3 big fish – the other two of course being Matt Holliday and John Lackey – I’m a little disappointed that Bay is the one the Mets are spending the most time considering. Don’t get me wrong, I won’t be upset if Bay is a Met in 2010. He’ll certainly improve the team’s power numbers as well as provide the Mets with a sure thing in leftfield, something the Mets have not had there in a long time. But in my eyes, Matt Holliday is the younger, all-around better player, and I’d prefer the main event pitcher John Lackey over Bay as well. However, we still don’t really know what either player is going to cost, nor do we know how much money the Mets really intend on spending this winter. The waiting game persists I guess, and I just hope the Mets have enough dough to completely right themselves this winter.
In other Mets news, the 2-million dollar man – AKA Ted Dibiase times 2 – Alex Cora has injured his back while playing winter-ball. Come on, couldn’t this happen a few weeks sooner, before we gave him his questionable contract? What luck. Is the 2010 injury parade beginning early? Hope not… However I do have a theory. The injury riddled year known as 2009… well it isn’t over yet technically! We’ve still got a good 2 and a half weeks to go before it is. Then, and ONLY then, a new year has begun. So once the calendar flips to 2010, the injury cavalcade hopefully will go away. So for all you guys currently under contract to play on the Mets in 2010, until New Years Day is upon us no heavy machinery, no sudden movements, and…you know what, you might as well just chain yourselves to your sofas and not move around too much. You can’t get hurt that way…right?
Finally, the Mets decided to nontender Tim Redding, Lance Broadway, Jeremy Reed, and Cory Sullivan on Saturday, making them all free agents. Meh, no big losses in that quartet. None of those guys looked as if they were going to contribute a whole lot for the Mets in the future. No big losses to report here my friends.
And now it’s time for you to sound off! Think the Mets lowball offer to Jason Bay is just a fan pleaser, or do you think the Mets hold serious and genuine interest in trying to obtain Bay for 2010 and beyond? And are there any newly non-tendered free agents you’d like to see the Mets display interest in, such as Garrett Atkins, Jonny Gomes, or Chien-Ming Wang? Sound off in the comment section below, and as always my fellow readers, thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and read!
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