A Bay in New York?

Happy New Year! Baseball season is in the middle of its off-season, and there was a big deal made just before the new decade began.

Most people think of California, Florida and the Carolinas as states on the ocean. There is now a Bay in New York, but not the body of water that everyone thinks of. Jason Bay signed a four year, $66 million contract with the New York Mets on Tuesday with a 5th-year option. Bay, a 3-time All Star, played with the Pirates for the majority of his seven year career. Before playing in Pittsburgh, he played for the Padres briefly, and most recently, he spent a year and a half in Boston. Bay finished the season second in the American League with 119 RBIs and third in the AL in home runs with 36 (both of which are career highs for him), along with 94 walks, third in the AL. Now, Bay is back in the National League East where he spent most of his time in the big leagues.

The Mets get exactly what they need: a healthy outfielder. Bay has played over 145 games in his last five seasons. The Mets were plagued with injuries in 2009 (just 6 players played in over 100 games), and their outfield was a disaster, as Carlos Beltran missed half of the year and Jeff Francoeur missed 87 games. The 31-year-old left fielder was a player the Mets needed to sign if they want to compete for the NL East title. New York also signed Kelvim Escobar on Monday, adding some depth to their rotation. I truly think that if the Mets can stay healthy and pitch well, they should be able to compete for a spot in the playoffs. I'm not saying they'll be playing in October, I'm just saying that if the Mets don't lose all of their players to injuries, they might be an interesting team to watch.