The Red Sox left fielder filed for free agency on Thursday along with reliever Billy Wagner, according to WEEI.com.
The Red Sox have a 15-day window to negotiate exclusively with each player, and if the two sides cannot come to terms at the end of that period, the players are then free to negotiate with other teams.
Last week, it was reported that the Red Sox planned to offer Bay something to the tune of four years and $60 million, so we'll soon find out if that will be enough to keep him within the friendly confines of Fenway Park. Given that Bay is one of the biggest offseason prizes this year, though, he probably won't sell himself short and will at least see how much other teams are willing to offer him.
Wagner, on the other hand, is very unlikely to be in a Red Sox uniform next year. Before he agreed to waive his no-trade clause to come to Boston toward the end of 2008, he made the team agree that it would decline an option to keep him for another season because he wanted a chance to be a closer in what is likely to be his final season. An additional report later surfaced that he planned to retire, but whether that is true or not remains to be seen.
