From: john smith on
Jason Bay has signed a 4 year deal worth close to 68 million dollars
that could be worth 80 million with a 5th year option. Red Sox backed
off with Bay having a "bad" shoulder. All that Bay has to do is pass a
physical that will make the deal final...

Bay is a better defensive version than Adam Dunn. He strikes out about
40 less times a year and hits maybe 10 to 15 points higher. Great
clubhouse guy....

I really don't think he was worth this kind of money...I will pass on
Bay like many teams did including the Sox who had the most to lose by
not resigning him...

From: HTP on
On Dec 30, 8:13 am, eddyg...(a)msn.com (john smith) wrote:
> Jason Bay has signed a 4 year deal worth close to 68 million dollars
> that could be worth 80 million with a 5th year option. Red Sox backed
> off with Bay having a "bad" shoulder. All that Bay has to do is pass a
> physical that will make the deal final...
>
> Bay is a better defensive version than Adam Dunn. He strikes out about
> 40 less times a year and hits maybe 10 to 15 points higher. Great
> clubhouse guy....
>
> I really don't think he was worth this kind of money...I will pass on
> Bay like many teams did including the Sox who had the most to lose by
> not resigning him...

I think i read that part of the reason the Sox didnt want to bring him
back was his defense. They acquired Mike Cameron. Now they have
Cameron and Ellsbury patrolling LF/CF. Camerons right-handed power bat
takes aim at the green monster.
From: John Kasupski on
On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:13:49 -0800, eddygdvd(a)msn.com (john smith) wrote:

>Jason Bay has signed a 4 year deal worth close to 68 million dollars
>that could be worth 80 million with a 5th year option. Red Sox backed
>off with Bay having a "bad" shoulder. All that Bay has to do is pass a
>physical that will make the deal final...
>
>Bay is a better defensive version than Adam Dunn. He strikes out about
>40 less times a year and hits maybe 10 to 15 points higher. Great
>clubhouse guy....
>
>I really don't think he was worth this kind of money...I will pass on
>Bay like many teams did including the Sox who had the most to lose by
>not resigning him...

The writing for that one's been on the wall since the Red Sox signed Mike
Cameron to a two-year deal a couple of weeks ago.

The BoSox reportedly offered Bay four years, $60 million. The Mets beat that by
about $1.5 million a year. The Red Sox backed off because they weren't willing
to go beyond four years (Bay originally was looking for a five- or six-year
deal) and would have had to backload the heck out of any contract with Bay
anyway because they're too close to the $170 million salary threshold for the
luxury tax, and because by doing what they ended up doing with that money
instead of using it to re-sign Bay, they have a better team overall than if they
had simply re-signed Bay.

So, they'll take the Mets' second round draft choice plus a supplemental pick,
pay Cameron a mere $15 million to play left field, and with Ellsbury and Drew
already out there, they will have one of the best outfields in baseball, with
the added benefit that Cameron can play a more than adequate CF if Ellsbury gets
hurt or needs a day off. Or they can move Ellsbury to left and put Cameron in
center. I'll leave that up to Terry Francona. The point is that Theo Epstein
accomplished one of his main goals heading into the offseason - improving his
team's defense.

Some will say the Red Sox priced themselves out of the market by signing
Cameron, John Lackey, and Marco Scutaro, but Cameron is a huge defensive upgrade
over Bay - probably enough to offset the decrease in offensive numbers. Scutaro
provides a definite defensive AND offensive upgrade from last year's BoSox
shortstops. And they needed to sign Lackey because Josh Beckett may be in his
final season in Boston. They could've found the extra money to re-sign Bay if
they had wanted to. They chose to spend the money more wisely instead, upgrading
three positions instead of merely staying in one place at one position. So the
math is simple:

Scutaro + Lackey + Cameron > Bay

This is what teams not named the New York Yankees have to learn to do in order
to compete with The Evil Empire. If you're working with a basically unlimited
payroll, like the very appropriately named Bryan Cashman, you can do pretty much
whatever you want. Otherwise, what money you do have available to spend, you
better spend wisely.

Which, come to think of it, is yet another reason for the Reds to avoid Ben
Sheets' agent like he's infected with every communicable disease known to
medical science.

JK

From: John Kasupski on
On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:48:44 -0800 (PST), HTP <tmbowman25(a)yahoo.com> wrote:

>I think i read that part of the reason the Sox didnt want to bring him
>back was his defense. They acquired Mike Cameron. Now they have
>Cameron and Ellsbury patrolling LF/CF. Camerons right-handed power bat
>takes aim at the green monster.

See my reply to John. basically, it's not so much Bay's defense alone as it is
the fact that Cameron, John Lackey, and Marco Scutaro taken together does more
for the team than the presence of Bay in LF - and keeps the BoSox from running
afoul of the luxury tax threshold.

JK