Jason Bay..What Really Happened

I came across an article on the WEEI website written by Rob Bradford that hooked me in and educated me. Its subject was Jason Bay, who will play for the Mets starting this coming season. What most of us don't know is how close he came to staying with the Boston Red Sox. When his decision was made, Bay said this...

“I was truly happy to put everything behind me and become a member of the New York Mets,” Bay said from his Seattle-area home.

Here's the true story in a condensed style. In July, the Red Sox made their quite nice four year offer for $60 million. That's a cool $15 million per year and Jason was prepared to accept it and stay in Boston, a place with a small park that would be kind to his knees, not so in NY where the Metsies play, not at all. Bay's physical, routinely ordered by Boston and all major league clubs, convinced the Sox to change the deal. There were issues with Bay's shoulder and knees. At the time, Bay said this...

"I felt great, so I didn't believe that there was anything wrong,” Bay said. “I felt extremely confident that if I had another doctor look at my films, the diagnosis would be different.

Boston ended up changing the flat four year deal with one that called for two years at $15 million per year with years three and four included if Bay remained healthy and productive. It also called for Bay to have knee surgery following last season. That was the deal breaker for Jason and his agent, Joe Urban. Sayanara Boston, hello Big Apple. The Red Sox later removed their request for immediate surgery and increased the guaranteed number of years to three. The same health provisions would be in place for year four. THE ANSWER WAS NO.

Were the Boston Red Sox being overly careful? With $60 miilion dollars on the line, they were being smart. We'll see what "would have happened" as we watch Bay play with the still woeful Mets. I wish him luck but I'd still rather see him at Fenway Park taking balls off of the Green Monster. Our defense is better with the addition of Mike Cameron but, well, I don't know. It just seemed that Jason Bay was great right where he was. I'll miss him. I wish him luck. Here he is expressing his frustration with Boston's demands...

“Nothing had changed with me physically since the club’s diagnosis back in July, so I just couldn’t understand what was going on. Listen, I could understand the club wanting all these medical contingencies if I had spent any recent time on the DL,” Bay said, “but I had no history of being a risk for injuries and I wasn't hurt."

We'll see, won't we? Have a great Sunday, a football Sunday, in fact. The American and National League championship games should be good ones. Oh, not only did the UCONN women Huskies basketball team slap Villanova silly with their 58th straight double digit win but the men's team, recently departed from the men's top 20 poll, stunned number one in the country Texas in a nationally televised game that was held at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. Good for them! The city of Hartford was aglow yesterday afternoon as the 16,671 people departed the arena, weekend and all.

Click on this post's title for more on the Red Sox (I'll find something) and as always, BE WELL.