Memories of Jason Bay

[A Boy Named Seo]

His 26 homers and 124 RBI look great if they were from 1 season and not 3.

[Edgy MD]

I remember a two-homer game against the Bronx Menace as well.

[Frayed Knot]

NYM Memories of Jason Bay:

* Gave him away at the exact wrong time

* Got him back at the exact wrong time

Other than that it was a sweet ride.


Part 1) Only three months after trading for him, the Mets turned him around in a deal for Jason Middlebrook and Steve Reed.
In a lot of ways a typical Steve Phillips deal; seemingly obsessed with finding that most elusive of prey: the perfect reliever, he showed himself willing to deal whatever it took to get him/them to the point of including whatever minor leaguers the other side wanted because he pretty much treated them as if indistinguishable pieces of firewood who may or may not ever prove worth their spark.
Bay had less than 400 ABs as a baby Met, but they were relatively promising [~.280/.370/.450] for a 23 y/o who could play all 3 OF positions. IOW, while most prospects prove to eventually fall short of whatever promise they have while young, not all of them are created equal either and it pays to pay attention to how you're tossing around those pieces.

Part 2) We know all about this part.
Maybe the downfall was foreseeable to some extent although that's easy to say in hindsight and it certainly wasn't to the degree it became.
What it certainly did was to help prove the maxim about how it's easier to recover from failing to sign a player than it to sign him at the wrong price, and about how, with the exception of a small handful of players, the production this guy you're lusting after will provide probably isn't as unique as you think.

[Edgy MD]

There's also --- and this is quite speculative --- maybe a cautionary tale about entering the market with one foot. Omar set his sights from the beginning on the second-best slugging outfielder that offseason, perhaps hoping there'd be a less aggressive market for him and the Mets could get 85% of the production at 70% of the financial commitment.

The Holliday/Bay Case (and wouldn't we all like to visit Holliday Bay?) might be cited in suggesting to a future GM that if you're going to be a bear, be a great big bad-ass bear. Maybe one with wings and gills to breathe under water.

[MFS62]

I've heard it said that the two happiest days in a boat owner's life are the day he gets it and the day he gets rid of it.
Today was my second Jason Bay happy day.
It almost made up for my 5 1/2 hour commute drive home tonight.

Later

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I think what the Mets wanted was the appearance of having gone after a big fish, and Bay probably carried just as much equity as a Big Fish as Holliday and that's what the "bargain" was. The effort to cast Bay as a kind of Brand Name was evident in the desperation of dressing him in the No. 44 jersey he wore as a Red Sox, pretending that his equity as a 38 in Pittsburgh never existed. The Mets were also shamelessly going after "Sweet Caroline" at that point. No imagination.

[Edgy MD]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I think what the Mets wanted was the appearance of having gone after a big fish, and Bay probably carried just as much equity as a Big Fish as Holliday and that's what the "bargain" was.

That's sort of what I sort of mean, yeah.

[Vic Sage]

The Holliday/Bay Case (and wouldn't we all like to visit Holliday Bay?) might be cited in suggesting to a future GM that if you're going to be a bear, be a great big bad-ass bear. Maybe one with wings and gills to breathe under water.

i totally agree with this. its the half-measures that kill you.
oh and by the way, i think it was actually Lullaby Bay, close by to Hushabye Mountain:

A gentle breeze from Hushabye Mountain
Softly blows o'er lullaby bay.
It fills the sails of boats that are waiting--
Waiting to sail your worries away.
It isn't far to Hushabye Mountain
And your boat waits down by the key.
The winds of night so softly are sighing--
Soon they will fly your troubles to sea.
So close your eyes on Hushabye Mountain.
Wave good-bye to cares of the day.
And watch your boat from Hushabye Mountain
Sail far away from lullaby bay.

-by Robert and Richard Sherman

[Guest Kong76]

Headline in local Gannett rag: END OF AN ERROR

[Chad ochoseis]

I shrug at this move. We're still paying him; doesn't make much difference if it's done today or spread out over years.

Edgy DC wrote: There's also --- and this is quite speculative --- maybe a cautionary tale about entering the market with one foot. Omar set his sights from the beginning on the second-best slugging outfielder that offseason, perhaps hoping there'd be a less aggressive market for him and the Mets could get 85% of the production at 70% of the financial commitment. The Holliday/Bay Case (and wouldn't we all like to visit Holliday Bay?) might be cited in suggesting to a future GM that if you're going to be a bear, be a great big bad-ass bear. Maybe one with wings and gills to breathe under water.

I'm fine with the idea of paying 70% less for a player who gives you 85% of the production of the best player at a given position, and I wouldn't say that the Bay contract proves that to be an impossible dream. The problem was that Bay gave us 0% of the production of Holliday.

[Edgy MD]

Clearly what Minaya hoped for and what the Mets got diverge wildly, which is why one may glean a cautionary tale.

[Ceetar]

Edgy DC wrote: Clearly what Minaya hoped for and what the Mets got diverge wildly, which is why one may glean a cautionary tale.

I'm sure he was also aware that he needed to keep his head above water too, and that wasn't going to happen with a "wait and see" evaluation point of lesser Mets guys, like Pagan, and that they needed an influx of power.

He also probably expected it to equate to closer to 10% of payroll than 20.

[ashie62]

Seemingly nice fellow with ever declining bat speed.

[seawolf17]

I remember that time he grounded out to short.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Jon Heyman wrote: Jason Bay may have gotten a better deal for himself by leaving the Mets than he did when he initially signed with them. Not only will Bay be paid the entire $21 million he is owed by the Mets, as has been reported, but the $15 million that is being deferred under the terms of the severance agreement is to be paid by the end of 2015, meaning the deferred monies will be paid only over an additional two years, CBSSports.com has learned. Neither side would comment on the deferred payments, but sources familiar with the deal say the short deferral -- the deferred monies are to be paid in five installments -- means the present-day value of the contract is worth only about $850,000 less than the full $21 million. Had the team simply cut him, they would have had to pay him all the money by the end of 2013. The Mets and the outfielder made the surprise agreement to part ways with a year to go on his $66-million, four-year deal. Originally, the Mets had said Bay would be coming to spring training. Mets people will only say publicly that it's a positive arrangement for both sides. The new deal does give the Mets some immediate financial relief. However, the deal seems especially sweet for Bay, who may make up the $850,000 or so he loses in the deferred payments in decreased tax payments away from New York, depending where he winds up signing. But the even bigger financial plus for Bay is that the Mets agreed to waive the usual offset provision, whereby the team would have been reimbursed the amount Bay signed for elsewhere. So if Bay can make a deal for more than $850,000 elsewhere, he's automatically going to come out ahead of the game.

[Edgy MD]

I'm replaying the 2012 season in OotP Baseball and damned if I haven't weaponized this guy again. He was hitting about the same as his real-world sapsorrow .175 about five weeks into the season. I'd been starting him only against lefties and after we rub against a run of righthanded pitchers, he has the cheek to come into my office and say that he expects to be starting regularly. The gall! The audacity! The chutzpah!

I raise an arched eyebrow, or arch a raised eyebrow, and have my finger on the button to release the player then and there. I long to tell him that he was the whitest of white elephants, that he has no reason to expect anything but tittering derision. But I keep my head and realizede I was short on righthanded options. Pascucci was hurt, slumping and unhappy in Buffalo, and the waiver wire and trading block aren't showing me any happy alternatives.

So I throw him a bone, started working him in against righties, and the sucker finds his stroke. We're in game fifty and he just hit his seventh homer. He's at .240 / .310 / .490 // .801 and if I can get that out of him for the season, I'll be thrilled.

Then I realize again that it's all fake. And in reality, he's gone, without any hint of a revitalization, and taken my team's money with him.

[seawolf17]

I love OOTP.

Edgardo Alfonzo homered three times on Opening Day 1999 for me a few weeks ago; just started the 2000 season 0-4 before beating Philly twice.

Saw that Bobby Witt was on the waiver wire toward the end of the 1999 season; gave him a look but passed when I saw his recent stats:

1992 TEX 8-15, 5.10
1993 PIT 10-13, 4.35
1994 MIL 0-20, 8.85
1995 ATL 10-13, 6.13
1996 COL 3-19, 8.51
1997 PIT 5-18, 6.57
1998 PIT 3-13, 6.51
1999 PIT 3-17, 7.85

That's a tough stretch.

[Edgy MD]

1994 MIL 0-20, 8.85 1995 ATL 10-13, 6.13

That's no small amount of redemption with Atlanta, though.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

Let the record reflect:
Bonilla '99: 49 OPS+
Bay '12: 47 OPS+