Indeed, bringing Jason Bay back for another three or four years should be the top priority for the Red Sox front office this season. Corner outfielders are a dime a dozen, especially this year — but it's hard to argue with the production that Bay brings to the table. You can't deny the value of 36 home runs, 119 RBIs and a .376 on-base percentage in the heart of the Red Sox' order. There are a lot of guys that could play left field for the Red Sox next season, but Bay is clearly the best of them.
After the Red Sox suffered a devastating ALDS loss to the Angels a week ago Sunday, though, Bay wasn't quick to commit to another tour of duty with the Red Sox. If anything, he sounded committed to being uncommitted.
"I've gotten to this point, and as much as I would love to come back here, I make no bones about that," Bay told the Providence Journal that Sunday. "I'm a little bit interested in going through the whole process, seeing what it's like and seeing what's out there. That really isn't going to sink in for awhile. I'm still sitting on this loss for a bit."
The Red Sox have no immediate plans with Bay other than to let him sit. The team's offseason is still young, and there are even potential replacements for Bay (think Bobby Abreu, Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui) still playing baseball this October.
But eventually, the Red Sox are going to get down to business and make a play for Bay, the best free agent in baseball, and so far, they have to be nervous about his eagerness to explore the open market.
It's hard to blame Bay for feeling the way he does. In his seven seasons in the major leagues, this is his first real chance to be paid like the major league star he is. The last contract he signed was a four-year extension in Pittsburgh in November 2005, and the small-market Pirates got away with offering him just $18.25 million over the four-year stretch, including his $1 million signing bonus.
Bay's not in a small market anymore, and he's not playing like a small-market guy. He's got 123 homers and 413 RBIs over that four-year stretch, making him one of the most grossly underpaid players in the game during.
He might be looking to overcompensate for that now. Bay is a modest guy — always has been — but money talks, and there will be tens of millions of dollars yelling at him this offseason.
The Red Sox knew that ahead of time. They knew that Bay was never going to be cheap, and that's why they made him two extension offers during the regular season that the team called "aggressive."
"We've had a lot of discussion with [Bay's agent, Joe Urbon] through the course of the last nine months, and most of it has been under the radar screen and underreported even after the fact," general manager Theo Epstein told MLB.com last week. "So we'll just continue that and try our best to work something out confidentially."
That sounds like a plan.
It's going to take a big offer to keep Bay in Boston next season. Bay is the best hitter on the market, and we all know what happened to the man in that position last year. If Mark Teixeira can demand eight years and $180 million, then the sky is the limit for Jason Bay.
Bay is a big deal, and he's going to get a big deal to match. We'll have to see how much the Red Sox want him.
