Earlier in the week the Mets and Jason Bay agreed to a buy out for the remainder of his contract. Bay’s contract was still guaranteed for $21 million and he will get every penny of it and then some. Bay agreed to have some of the $21 million owed to him deferred, which means a portion of this will be paid back with interest some time in the future. Though many people are happy and relieved that Bay is finally out of the Mets hair for good, letting him go was the wrong the choice.
Though the Mets rid themselves of Bay himself, his contract still stands. In essence, the Mets are currently paying Bay his full salary to pay for another team. Though the terms of his buy-out have yet to be released, it is being presumed a large amount of his 2013 salary will still count towards this year's salary. If you are paying a guy over $15 million dollars no matter how bad he is playing you shouldn’t just let him go with full salary and play wherever he wants.
Secondly, there was no way Bay was reaching his incentives for his 2014 option to automatically kick in. Bay did not record one season of 600+ plate appearance let alone at-bats in any of his three years with the Mets. Bay, who most likely would be platooning even if had been on the team, would fall way short of 600 at -ats.
Finally, believe it or not, Bay has value. Before injuries started to kill Bay’s season, his March and April of 2012 was surprisingly decent. He slugged over .450 and hit three homeruns. If he is producing, the Mets are going to have a greater chance of winning. Lets say he is not producing, he still has value as his contract is expiring. They could trade him to a team who has another bad contract, but one that is long term. There are plenty of general managers out there willing to unload their long term bad contract for short term one.
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