The Bay Area Arrives In New York

Mets Blog

By Joseph Pascullo

Wednesday, December 30, 2009 10:42 AM EST

     So, he's finally come...

     Hello friends and welcome back. Well after what seems like a year-long waiting period, Jason Bay finally accepted the Mets 4 yr offer, worth a total of 66 million dollars pending he passes his physical of course. That's 6 million dollars than what the only other known offer from the Boston Red Sox was supplying.

     On the positive side, Bay - who clubbed 36 homers last year - along with all the returning members of the walking wounded should improve the Mets floundering power numbers in 2010 dramatically. Also, I've got to give a little credit to Omar and his crew for the contract they got Bay to sign. It really appears as if they were 100% hell-bent in acquiring Bay, and if that was the case - Bay or bust - well I guess they got him intelligently. By knowing that there were no other serious suitors out there, they were able to reel in Bay with an offer worth 2 million more than the lowball one they offered to him eons ago. Kudos for not bidding against yourselves and not blowing your original offer ridiculously out of the water guys!

     However, Bay's behavior while the offer was sitting on the table really rubbed me the wrong way. I even feel that Bay has already gotten off on the wrong foot without even playing an inning of Mets baseball. A lot was said about Bay while he gave us the silent treatment, about how he did not want to play for the Mets. Peter Gammons even went as far to say Bay would rather play in Beirut - capital city of sunny Lebanon for all you non-geography buffs! - than patrol Citi Field. That doesn't sit well with me.

     What are we supposed to do now when Bay takes the podium next week during his introductory press conference? Forget that he more or less treated us like idiots and like a last resort and believe him when he delivers the typical generic ballplayer positive statements, "I came here to win a championship...There's no better place to play than New York…" Blah blah blah blah blah. Instead of sucking up to Bay, we should be wary about the negative impact this guy could bestow upon our club. Maybe his moodiness about playing for a team he really didn't want to play for will be uber-apparent in the clubhouse and damage it. It may even spill out onto the field resulting in indifferent careless play. What’s it about Bay, 8 figures, or that World Series ring? I could be wrong of course, but it really really looks as if Bay realized "Darn, no one else is going to top the Mets offer, I guess I've got no choice but to reluctantly accept this offer from this loser of a club." That's not OK with me. Not at all.

     And Omar better not pat himself on the back too extensively. He needs to remember that if he wants his team to excel in 2010, Jason Bay alone won't cut it. His rotation is wafer-thin following the man Johan Santana. Hope fattening it up is on his "To-Do" List.

     Anyway, my final verdict on Jason Bay goes like this. His power will certainly help the Mets in an area that they severely struggled in last year. Is he as awesome a complete player as Matt Holliday is? No way. Would I rather have Matt Holliday donning blue and orange next year? You bet. Sadly that's not the case. But as long as Bay does what he’s done consistently over the course of his career, I won't have an issue with him, even though we're his last resort team. His negotiation behavior though really, really irked the heck out of me; I feel he was totally disrespectful towards the Mets. At least to this one guy Jason, you've got a lot of proving to do.

     What do you guys think of the Mets big free agent prize? Love? Hate? Indifferent? Let me know what you're thinking, write your reaction below! And as always my dearest readers, thank you very much for stopping by to read!