Jason Bay Will Be a Mariner!

-Jason Bay Signs With The Mets in 2010-

In 2010 there was a flurry of activity on the free agent market and at the top of that list was a guy by the name of Jason Bay. The production that he had while with the Boston RedSox left the Mariner fans coveting the opportunity for him to dawn the Mariner blue and teal. Now, after two years of waiting, they'll finally have that chance.

I was on that list of fans too. Hoping that Bay would throw us a bone and sign here in Seattle, but instead, the New York Mets snatched him up for an astronomical price.
Looking back, we can all be thankful that Bay didn't sign with the Mariners because what followed his signing in 2010 were 3 seasons of sub par performance. Especially when you consider the fact that he was getting paid over 18 million dollars in his second and third years. The Mets eventually cut ties with him this off-season while still owing him over 18 million for 2013.

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS	Awards
2003	24	PIT	NL	27	97	79	13	23	6	1	3	12	3	1	18	28	.291	.423	.506	.929	140
2004	25	PIT	NL	120	472	411	61	116	24	4	26	82	4	6	41	129	.282	.358	.550	.907	132	RoY-1
2005	26	PIT	NL	162	707	599	110	183	44	6	32	101	21	1	95	142	.306	.402	.559	.961	150	AS,MVP-12
2006	27	PIT	NL	159	689	570	101	163	29	3	35	109	11	2	102	156	.286	.396	.532	.928	138	AS,MVP-23
2007	28	PIT	NL	145	614	538	78	133	25	2	21	84	4	1	59	141	.247	.327	.418	.746	94
2008	29	TOT	MLB	155	670	577	111	165	35	4	31	101	10	0	81	137	.286	.373	.522	.895	134
2008	29	PIT	NL	106	459	393	72	111	23	2	22	64	7	0	59	86	.282	.375	.519	.894	136
2008	29	BOS	AL	49	211	184	39	54	12	2	9	37	3	0	22	51	.293	.370	.527	.897	129
2009	30	BOS	AL	151	638	531	103	142	29	3	36	119	13	3	94	162	.267	.384	.537	.921	134	AS,MVP-7,SS
PIT (6 yrs)				719	3038	2590	435	729	151	18	139	452	50	11	374	682	.281	.375	.515	.890	131
BOS (2 yrs)				200	849	715	142	196	41	5	45	156	16	3	116	213	.274	.380	.534	.915	133

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/5/2012.

As you can see, before Jason Bay went to New York, he was an All-Star caliber player that most people would have loved having on their team. After that, it was hardly the case.

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS	Awards
2010	31	NYM	NL	95	401	348	48	90	20	6	6	47	10	0	44	91	.259	.347	.402	.749	105
2011	32	NYM	NL	123	509	444	59	109	19	1	12	57	11	1	56	109	.245	.329	.374	.703	97
2012	33	NYM	NL	70	215	194	21	32	2	0	8	20	5	1	19	58	.165	.237	.299	.536	47
NYM (3 yrs)				288	1125	986	128	231	41	7	26	124	26	2	119	258	.234	.318	.369	.687	90

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/5/2012.

As a Mariner fan, we can be happy that we didn't get the New York Met Jason Bay and we can hope that his struggles were the result of playing under the pressure of a crazy huge contract. Coming to Seattle and playing in his home city may be exactly what he needs to come alive again. These are the kind of deals that Jack Z has put some stock in before with players like Milton Bradley, Jack Cust, Russell Branyan and others. In my opinion, this is one of the deals that I think just may pay off for the Mariners.

As fans, we can hope that Jason Bay will show up at the newly arranged Safeco Field and have some joy for baseball that he never obtained in New York. We can hope that he can take advantage of the shorter fences in our ballpark and hit some balls into the new Edgar Cafe, just over the left field fence. Bay will be making over 18 million this year, but Seattle will only be offering up about a million of that. If Bay can return to the same player that he was with Pittsburgh or Boston, we fell into a bargain and only waited 2 years for it to come to fruition.

I'm excited about the possibilities. I know that everyone isn't, but I do know that people flourish for different reasons and I can see this working out for the good of Jason Bay and the Seattle Mariners. If it doesn't work out, we cut our ties and we lose a million dollars. That's pocket change considering we watched Chone Figgins waste 9 million dollars the last four years. Hey, maybe the Met's can pick him up. They are looking at Miguel Olivo for their catcher.

Good Luck Jason Bay!

SodoJoe