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From: john smith on 30 Dec 2009 11:13 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 30 Dec 2009 11:48 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 31 Dec 2009 04:14 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 31 Dec 2009 04:17 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
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