Finally.
After what seemed like an eternity, especially to the Flushing faithful who suffered through this dismal 2009 campaign, the New York Mets finally made a big time move this offseason when they agreed to terms on Tuesday with free agent outfielder Jason Bay.
The Mets, who where beginning to look like their frugality would deny them the chance of landing any big-name free agent, once again proved that patience is a virtue by playing the waiting game. While many experts predicted New York would have to add another year to its offer in order to land the Red Sox clean-up hitter, the Mets waited, refusing to bid against themselves.
Ultimately, the move worked, as the Mets were able to land Bay with their original offer of four years and roughly $65 million.
The Mets, who had a hole to fill in left field after Daniel Murphy proved to be a worse outfielder than Todd Hundley, were one of the worst offensive teams in all of baseball in 2009, and their 95 home runs ranked dead last in the National League.
In Bay, New York is getting one of only two players (Alex Rodriguez being the other) to hit 30 home runs, drive in 100 runs, and score 100 runs while adding at least 10 stolen bases in at least four of the last five seasons.
Bay is as good an offensive player as there is in the sport, and while he's average-at-best defensively, playing in the same outfield as Carlos Beltran and Jeff Francouer should keep Bay's lack of defensive prowess from becoming a liability.
It looks like a perfect fit for the Mets, and for once this offseason, Met fans can feel a sense of hope that doesn't come with the signings of backup catchers or former 18-game winners who haven't pitched in two seasons.
So now that Jason Bay is officially a member of the New York Mets, only one question remains. What's next?
It's true that the signing of Bay fills a major hole in left field, while also adding a much needed punch to the Mets offense (his 36 home runs were 24 more than Daniel Murphy, who led the team with 12), but anyone who thinks that this move automatically catapults the Mets back into contention either didn't watch the team play at all last season, is the world's biggest optimist, or has the last name of Wilpon.
The Mets have filled a glaring hole, but this team still has major issues.
First off, the Mets current catching corps consists of Josh Thole, Omir Santos, and Chris Coste. It may be the best group of backups around, but the Mets still need a starter.
They have an offer to free agent Bengie Molina, and he seems to be a perfect fit, but Molina and the Mets have yet to be able to agree on the length of the contract. In other words, it may be time to look elsewhere.
Next, as of right now, the Mets rotation is a post-elbow surgery Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey, who seemed to take a giant step back after a solid 2008 season, the oft-injured John Maine, and Oliver Perez, who after signing a three-year contract worth $36 million to stay in Queens, was arguably the worst starting pitcher in all of baseball last season.
The Mets need at least one other quality pitcher in the rotation, and that's optimistically speaking. Truthfully, other than Santana, the Mets do not have another pitcher they can count on for a quality outing each time he takes the mound.
After losing out on John Lackey, Minaya and company sat idly by and watched as Jason Marquis, a player who practically was begging to play at Citi Field, signed with Washington for the relatively reasonable price of two seasons and $15 million.
Is Jason Marquis a big name? No, but he did win 15 games for Colorado last season, has pitched at least 190 innings in five of the last six seasons, and in his 10 big league seasons Marquis' teams have made the postseason nine times.
Also, Mets fans need not forget that the Amazins play in one of the toughest divisions in baseball.
The Phillies have been to the World Series the past two seasons, and they just added arguably the game's best pitcher in Roy Halladay. The Marlins have the best hitter in the division in Hanley Ramirez, and those youngsters in Florida keep improving every season. The Braves have some of the best pitching in the division, even after trading Javier Vazquez, and if they hit in 2010 like they did in the second half of 2009, they may be the second-best team in the NL East.
Even with Jason Bay, as of this moment, the Mets are still the fourth-best team in the division, and the perennial cellar-dweller Nationals should be much improved in 2010 as well.
The Jason Bay signing is a nice start for the Mets, but if Omar Minaya, Fred Wilpon, and Jerry Manuel think this is the move that puts the Mets back into contention, they're sadly mistaken.
So, at the risk of sounding redundant, what's next?
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