As Jason Bay considers the various “scenarios” regarding his baseball future, he can eliminate the possibility the Mets will swallow the $19 million he is owed and release him this offseason.
According to a team source, there is “zero” chance the beleaguered outfielder will be released this winter or asked to compete for a job in spring training.
Bay, who did not play in the Mets’ 6-2 victory over the Pirates last night at Citi Field, is batting .155 with eight homers and 20 RBIs as he completes the third season of a four-year deal worth $66 million he signed with the Mets in December of 2009.
The source said many decisions regarding the makeup of next year’s roster still have not been determined, but team brass has already resolved to stick with Bay.
“He’s a part of this team,” the source said.
Before last night’s 6-2 win over the Pirates, Bay, who didn’t play, said he had no knowledge of the organization’s plans for him. However, he didn’t seem to think competing for a job in spring training would be a fruitful exercise.
“I don’t think there’s a role they are going to put me in that they haven’t already seen, is there?” Bay said. “You’re talking about Oliver Perez shows up, they try to make him a lefty specialist. I’ve played every day. I’ve not played every day. I don’t know. I’ll do whatever I can.”
The Mets brought Perez and Luis Castillo — who were owed a combined $18 million — to spring training in 2011 and had them compete for jobs. Both were ultimately released as the Mets decided to begin a new chapter under general manager Sandy Alderson and manager Terry Collins.
Working in Bay’s favor is the fact the Mets in all likelihood will be looking for a new center fielder and perhaps right fielder. The front office is opposed to paying Bay $19 million (including a $3 million buyout) to just disappear and perhaps resurrect his career elsewhere on the Mets’ dime.
If the Mets were to trade Bay, it would almost certainly involve taking on another bad contract. One trade that never materialized before the July 31 non-waiver deadline would have sent Marlins flop Heath Bell (and the $18 million he is still owed through 2014) to the Mets as part of a deal for Bay.
Though it might be easy for Bay to root for a change of scenery, he said he wants to return to Flushing.
“Nobody wants to not have a job,” Bay said. “I’m hoping I can turn this around. I have been hoping that for a while. I understand there are scenarios, but this is my job and I take it very serious.
“It’s very hard to fail, but it happens every day. It’s not something that you can take a couple of weeks off from and come back with a fresh outlook. This is something you have to grind through, and I take it very seriously.”
Collins recently suggested the two concussions Bay has sustained in his three seasons with the Mets have been a factor in the player’s offensive decline. But Bay isn’t buying it.
“[Collins] has mentioned that to me a few times,” Bay said. “Maybe 20 years from now they will find some link, but I don’t really feel, there is no palpable evidence that says due to the concussions ‘A, B or C’ has happened. I don’t really feel like that at all. For me, the concussions are not an excuse.”