bye, bye Bay

The Jason Bay era is over. He will now spend the next four years just missing the playoffs with the NY Mets. Many reports have discussed that Bay very much wanted to stay in Boston. Apparently, the Sox offer to Bay mid-season was for more money than the Mets offer (at least in present dollars, given the way that the Mets deal is very backloaded.) So, effectively, Bay turned down a lucrative contract to play for a team and a city he enjoys, to go to a team he doesn't particularly want to play for, for less money. I guess that's what you get for being greedy, right?

I'm not convinced that greed is the driving force behind this situation for Bay, for two reasons. First, I think he had ample reason to believe that he could get more money and more years this off season. He's a young-ish slugger (31) who's performance has improved in each of the last few seasons. He was midway through a season which saw him eventually lead all AL outfielders in OPS, and finish top 10 in six major offensive categories overall. Last year's market was supposed to be tight, too; lots of money got thrown around, though. From Bay's point of view, it was not unreasonable to think that instead of 4 years, $60M, he could get 5 years, $75M, or 4 years, $72M. Not unreasonable at all. I think if I were in Bay's position, I might do the same thing; I suspect many readers would too.

Secondly (and this is a bigger deal than we realize, sometimes) . . . professional athletes are pathologically competitive. They must be. If they weren't they wouldn't be professional athletes. They find motivation in everything, and see perceived slights and slams to their abilities everywhere. Just watch MJ's Hall of Fame speech to see that pathological competitiveness in action.  Bay is no different, I suspect.  Well, different from MJ, but even though he's a mild mannered Canadian dude, he's a professional athlete, and a damn good one.  He didn't get that way from NOT being competitive.  He can't just turn his competitiveness off - accepting the Sox offer mid-season would be like laying up and playing for a safe par when your drive is in the middle of the fairway.  How could he not try to reach the green in 2?  Unfortunately for him, the market didn't materialize the way he thought, and the Sox had committed the money elsewhere.  But, I don't think it was all pure greed, but rather competitiveness.

The Red Sox made the right decision regarding Bay.  No reason to offer him more than they did mid-season - he wasn't worth $18M, and a fifth year would more likely have seen a slowed down Bay with a sinking OPS (remember, all he can contribute is hitting - significantly below average fielder.)  After they signed Cameron, traded for Hermida, signed Lackey, they didn't have the money to go all in on bringing back Bay. The mainstream media seems to agree - the Sox made their best offer, and were right not to overpay.  Now, are the Red Sox better with Bay (but no Cameron, Lackey, or Hermida?)  Another topic for a future post.