Author: Lenny Chiarello
WFAN’s Mike Francesa said on Monday night that he had some big Mets news to announce on Tuesday afternoon.
Mike delivered.
Francesa was the first to report
that the New York Mets and free agent slugger Jason Bay have
agreed to a four-year contract worth $66 million. SI’s John Heyman
and the Post’s Joel Sherman confirmed the details soon after Francesa
made the announcement on his daily radio show, “Mike’d Up.”
The four-year deal includes
a vesting option, which is reported to be close to the average annual
payout of the guaranteed contract. The option seems to be based on plate
appearances and offensive production—in essence, if Jason Bay
stays healthy, he will be the Mets’ left fielder in that 5th
season (which is 2014).
It’s unclear whether the
deal will be back loaded or not, with the majority of his contract coming
in 2012 and 2013.
The question of Jason Bay’s
health seems to be a trending topic in the Mets Blog-o-sphere, especially
after Joel Sherman of the NY Post had this to say about the newest
Met:
“There
has been a lot of talk in the sport that the Red Sox were hesitant to
do a long-term deal with Bay because they were concerned about the health
of his shoulders.”
Nothing against Sherman, but
Bay has averaged 154 games the past five seasons---During his Boston
days, Jason Bay was the designated hitter 1 (ONE) game.
Listen, I understand that you
cannot take the “pending physical” part of the press release
for granted…If you don’t believe me, ask Boston fans how they feel
right now that Mike Lowell is still a member of the Red Sox.
Going back to the Mets, I feel
this is a fantastic pickup for the Metropolitans. I was never a believer
of the “make a deal for the sake of making one” attitude—in
tomorrow’s papers, many will feel that Jason Bay is a Met for this
reason.
I always was a big fan of
Omar Minaya (see my “In Omar I Trust” article if you don’t
believe me). Put this right up there with the big Omar acquisitions.
It gives the Mets a legitimate power threat who has proved his durability
and has proved he can play in a big market (unlike Matt Holliday).
What’s the best part of this deal? We are 50 days away from pitchers and catchers. What does that mean? The Hot Stove season is still young.

