According to Jon Harper over at the Daily News, the Red Sox may have reentered the Jason Bay bidding. Originally, the Sox made Bay a 4 year, $60M offer during their exclusive negotiating window. Bay responded in a strongly worded letter, rejecting the offer, and referring to Theo Epstein as a "nerd."
Hurt by Bay's inconsiderate words, the Red Sox pulled out of the bidding. They would later make a 5 year, $82.5M offer to Matt Holliday, the rich man's Jason Bay, but Holliday rejected the offer, though he was nicer about it.
At this point the Red Sox signed John Lackey and Mike Cameron, strengthening their rotation, and making their outfield perfectly mediocre offensively. Actually, considering they play in the AL East, their outfield is sub-par offensively. The Sox hoped to address this lack of offense by either making a trade for the Padre's Gonzalez or signing free agent Adrian Beltre (though I never got the sense they really wanted to make a move here, just that he was out there and could hit if healthy). The Pads are not trading Gonzalez, and I suspect new Pads GM Jed Hoyer is worried about what it would look like for him to trade his best hitter to his former employer. If the return isn't significant, it undermines Hoyer's credibility.
So now the Red Sox have turned back to the girl that broke up with them in front of everybody at the Prom, Jason Bay. Bay has not found the five year offer he is looking for, largely because baseball GMs are generally not clinically insane, but the Mets, needing a big bat and to do something to improve if they plan on ever selling another season ticket package, have been unwilling to move from 4 years, $65M. Now Minaya has been patient before and landed big time players at his price (think Santana trade for a Wendy's coupon and a toasted sub to be named later). This time, it looks like his unwillingness to maybe throw another $5M or so in the deal may cost him his target.
The Red Sox need another hitter, because right now their biggest power threats are David Ortiz (only good when roiding), and Nancy Drew (sorry, I honestly can't remember his real first name and don't feel like looking it up). Bay definitely makes their offense more formidable, so it should be interesting to see how this one develops. Granted, it's possible that the Sox are just looking to drive up the price on the Mets. Not because there's any reason to, just for spite and 1986.
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9 comments:
I heard that any deal would be contingent on Theo getting to slap Bay's mother.
That seems to be the new trendy thing among major league GMs.
This is usually where the Ninja slides in and sticks it to The Mets and Boston.
True, though letting either sign Jason Bay for four years may more or less be the equivalent of sticking it to them.
Good point..especially if he goes to the Mets where he cant DH when he inevitably starts to decline in year 3.
Exactly. Mets are desperate though, maybe they let him play first base one day.
Youkilis can be pretty scary (and I'm not just referring to his terrifying face), the guy has a higher OPS+ than Teixeira.
But yeah, that offense is just not scary any more. Like, whoooo boy, Ellsbury, congrats on stealing home. May the highlight of every Red Sox season come on April 26 from here on out. I've also never seen anyone read balls hit off bats so badly, hence why he makes so many crazy catches, because he has to run when he realizes where they're actually going.
Pedroia's okay but nothing really special away from home. Martinez is really good as an offensive catcher, but if you stick him at 1B his offense isn't anything special for there, and if he's playing catcher, teams can run wild on him. Nancy (heh!) is actually pretty underrated, but he's kind of like Pavano in that sometimes his vagina hurts and he has to sit out games for no reason. And he usually bats, like, eighth. What? It seemed like Bay only showed up vs. the Yankees in April and June. Etc.
Above all, though, they REALLY miss the roided-up Ortiz, Manny, and Varitek (yes, I would bet good money Varitek is on that list of 103. As is about 90% of that 2004 Boston team. I know I would have ABSOLUTELY NO ROOM to gloat, but DAMN would it be satisfying to finally have those names get out. Oh, and Luis Gonzalez's!).
errr my bad, Youkilis doesn't have a better OPS+, just a better OPS. I would still probably take Tex over him, but both are excellent players. (At least Tex isn't outright unpleasant to look at.)
And how many times did I say "nothing special"? Yikes.
The Red Sox will spend that money on pitching or a comparable player in free agency, so there isnt too much to be concerned about for Sox fans.
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