Bay to Mets

Barndog

thru boston.com I learned that WFAN is reporting Bay will sign with the NYM for four years, 66 million dollars.

Mets locked up the pennant now, didn't they?

lanemyer85

hope that extra $6 million was worth it Jason. .269 AVG and 36 HRs in Fenway should translate to .260 & 25 in Citi Field. Good luck with that Bay.

MCMLVTopps

I kinda thought Bay would not resign with the Red Sox, but expected him to go to Seattle, closer to his hometown in Trail, BC.

Putting things into perhaps a weird perspective, Ted Williams highest salary for playing left field in Fenway was a seemingly PALTRY $125,000. Bay will make a bit less than that per game. Even if you skew Williams' $$ into 2009 dollars, it's still a whale of a salary in comparison, but I doubt the latter player will not even come close to Williams' stature or accomplishments.

Imagine making $101,851.85 per game, every game of the 162 game season!!

I doubt Bay will perform well in the former Shea Stadium. Sorry to see him go, but like they say, "money talks and BS walks".

Dboneesq

WOW ... Let's take Mr. Bay's stats over the past four years and project them over the next four.

Based upon those stats, he will make:

$536,585 for each HOMERUN he hits, OR

$159,806 for each RBI he knocks in, OR

$109,453 for each HIT he gets OR

$108,197 for each GAME HE PLAYS.

All I can say is WOW! (and WHY??????)

perkdog

Glad we didnt sign him for that. He wont put up those #'s again IMO

megatron

<< <i>thru boston.com I learned that WFAN is reporting Bay will sign with the NYM for four years, 66 million dollars.

Mets locked up the pennant now, didn't they?

>>



This club is called the Mets. It will find a way to lose. Plus, Citi Field is not a hitter's friend given its dimensions.

Wish him luck, though

HGenesis

This signing is why the Mets will always be a bad team....there's no way there's any bat not named Pujols who's worth this kind of money. Throw in sub-standard defense and inflated numbers from a hitter-friendly ballpark and you have a recipe for disaster.

Clemaz

How could the Redsox let him go? Money isn't an issue with the Redsox's. Who will they replace him with?

metsfan

Heard there's an option for a 5th year which could raise the contract as high as $80 million. Will be interesting to see how much Matt Holliday signs for. The Mets are also close to signing Benji Molina. Hope they don't stop there, as starting pitching is the biggest need.

stevek

I like the Mets front office - they are on my holiday card list...I even send them a good card, one with those little silver and different color sparkly things on it...although not quite as nice as the card I send to Jerry Jones.

grote15

From a PR standpoint, the Mets had to do something this offseason if only to placate the increasingly frustrated fans who are refusing to renew their season ticket plans. It's a lot of money, but it's better than what we had in the OF, so I'm going to be cautiously optimistic for now. An OF of Beltran, Bay and Francoeur is pretty solid, IMO. The pitching woes still need to be addressed, though.

WinPitcher

but I doubt the latter player will not even come close to Williams' stature or accomplishments.






lol ya think?


Steve

WinPitcher

I doubt Bay will perform well in the former Shea Stadium.






lol I doubt that too. What are you on tonite?


Steve


edited to add: I want some.

metsfan

<< <i>hope that extra $6 million was worth it Jason. .269 AVG and 36 HRs in Fenway should translate to .260 & 25 in Citi Field. Good luck with that Bay. >>



Bay is a lifetime .280 hitter, and only hit below .280 twice in 7 years. Think he is capable of hitting .280 at Citi Field, and 25 homers would be fine. He also had some real good years with no help in Pittsburgh, so he's actually in a better situation with the Mets.

lawnmowerman

<< <i>

<< <i>thru boston.com I learned that WFAN is reporting Bay will sign with the NYM for four years, 66 million dollars.

Mets locked up the pennant now, didn't they?

>>



This club is called the Mets.It will find a way to lose. >>




This coming from a Cubs fan

grote15

thru boston.com I learned that WFAN is reporting Bay will sign with the NYM for four years, 66 million dollars.

Mets locked up the pennant now, didn't they?

>>



This club is called the Mets.It will find a way to lose. >>




This coming from a Cubs fan

LMAO, even SteveK wasn't around the last time the Cubs won a title...

stevek

<< <i>thru boston.com I learned that WFAN is reporting Bay will sign with the NYM for four years, 66 million dollars.

Mets locked up the pennant now, didn't they?

>>



This club is called the Mets.It will find a way to lose. >>




This coming from a Cubs fan

LMAO, even SteveK wasn't around the last time the Cubs won a title... >>



I was to. I remember buying a newspaper for a penny and reading about it.

WeekendHacker

And if the press is correct - didn't Bay mention that he wasn't interested in playing for the Mets or in NY? That can't be a comforting feeling knowing that your key acquisiton in the off season doesn't even want to friggen be there. Much less be there for over $16 mil per season. I've always liked Jason Bay, quiet guy - goes about his business - not controversial - puts up numbers (yes even with a pathetic pirates offense) - but I think he, like Santana, are going to regret singning with the Mets half way through their contract.

lanemyer85

Bay is a lifetime .280 hitter, and only hit below .280 twice in 7 years

you're forgetting he's also leaving his prime (27-32) years and while a career .280 hitter, he's also posted a .247 & .269 BA in 2 of the last 4 seasons which suggests skill decline + age. A 31-year-old with what scouts tend to call “old people skills” (see Guerrero, Vlad) – high power, poor defensive range and average-at-best speed – Bay can be expected to decline at a faster rate than the average player, as can be seen in the dip in BB rate and rise in K rate. As players get older they tend to start cheating on pitches more. He has averaged 2.1 wins per season since 2007, although giving higher weight to his better 2008-2009 seasons vs. his replacement-level 2007 gives a weighted average closer to 2.8-3.0 wins. He had a 49% fly ball rate last season which is also abnormally high so if he reverts back to a normal 42% rate you could be looking at closer to low 20's HRs. He's also historically a gap hitter which makes his fit in Citi Field even worse. He did begin to pull more last season due to the monster, but that also hurt his BA in relation to the added HRs. Here's a spray chart of his split extra base hits last year. Perhaps he'll take the David Wright approach and just try to hit for average.

metsfan

<< <i>Bay is a lifetime .280 hitter, and only hit below .280 twice in 7 years

you're forgetting he's also leaving his prime (27-32) years and while a career .280 hitter, he's also posted a .247 & .269 BA in 2 of the last 4 seasons which suggests skill decline + age. A 31-year-old with what scouts tend to call “old people skills” (see Guerrero, Vlad) – high power, poor defensive range and average-at-best speed – Bay can be expected to decline at a faster rate than the average player, as can be seen in the dip in BB rate and rise in K rate. As players get older they tend to start cheating on pitches more. He has averaged 2.1 wins per season since 2007, although giving higher weight to his better 2008-2009 seasons vs. his replacement-level 2007 gives a weighted average closer to 2.8-3.0 wins. He had a 49% fly ball rate last season which is also abnormally high so if he reverts back to a normal 42% rate you could be looking at closer to low 20's HRs. He's also historically a gap hitter which makes his fit in Citi Field even worse. He did begin to pull more last season due to the monster, but that also hurt his BA in relation to the added HRs. Here's a spray chart of his split extra base hits last year. Perhaps he'll take the David Wright approach and just try to hit for average.



>>



Not sure about Bay being a gap hitter, most of his homeruns were to left or left center last year. He also hit 21 of his homeruns on the road. As far as "old people skills", thats probably true, but he can steal some bases, and he did have 15 assists and 0 errors last year. Long term this might not be a great deal for the Mets, but hopefully it works out for a couple years.

Morgoth

Its very clear Bay's skills are in decline, especially in the field. The AL would have been a better place for him so you could have used him for DH later in his contract when his skill erosion became even worse.

I think he might eek out 1 really good year with the team but won't perform for the duration of the deal. Holliday would have been a better signee.

lanemyer85

historically he has been a gap and up the middle hitter. As I pointed out he changed his approach for Fenway to aim at the monster, but if you check his spray charts in his PITT days the majority of his extra base hits were to the gaps and center.

grote15

I predict 40 homers, 120 RBI and a World Series parade down Broadway, and I'm not waking up!

WinPitcher

he will prolly be on the DL by May 1st.

Steve

Morgoth

I am not worried about the health as much as his ability to make consistent contact and catch the ball at the level he is being paid for.

It seems without the special medicine that the players were using, most players don't make dramatic improvements or reverse decline trends once they reach certain a certain age.

WinPitcher

I had no idea about his health, we are talking about the Mets right?



Steve

Connecticoin

A lot of that extra $6 million will get eaten up by NY State and NYC taxes.

swartz1

maybe he can ask David Wright how to hit homeruns...

yankeeno7

Similar things were said when the Yanks signed Damon. Personally, I think Bay will work out just fine for them.