We’ve Had Jason Bay Before; His Name Was Kevin McReynolds

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• 86mets December 30, 2009 at 6:15 am

  Let’s just hope that Bay doesn’t match McReynolds on one point. If they make the playoffs during his contract, I hope Bay, when asked by the media, doesn’t say that it doesn’t matter how far the team makes it in the postseason. If they win great, if not he’ll go home and go duck hunting. That killed my respect for McReynolds back in ’88, so I hope Bay is more competitive than that.
  • tiedyed December 30, 2009 at 11:55 am

    I totally agree with you. I also remember that comment McReynolds made before the 88 playoffs and after that, I lost all respect for him.

    I may be wrong but I think the quote McReynolds said was something like, ‘I’ll go to the World Series or I’ll go back to Arkansas. Either way I’m a winner.’
• Joe D December 30, 2009 at 6:35 am

  Great job Ed. It’s amazing how remarkably similar both players were offensively. I am looking forward to seeing Bay in a Mets uniform and hope they televise the press conference on SNY. I’m really excited about his acquisition.
• Josh December 30, 2009 at 6:55 am

  Jason Bay career OBP: .376

  Kevin McReynolds career OBP: .328

  Not really comparable, Bay is way better.
• jdon December 30, 2009 at 7:34 am

  McReynolds had superior fielding abilities and a decidedly inferior attitude. The guy did not like playing ball.
  • Mykey December 30, 2009 at 8:48 am

    I’m glad someone talked about the defense. McReynolds was one of the best, if not the best, left fielders defensively in Mets history. They will not get that out of Bay, but, if Bay can continue to produce at the plate, then I will accept that.
• Bayonne Mets Fan December 30, 2009 at 8:23 am

  Great job Ed,
  That’s a lot of research there. Although it seems like a lot of money for a guy who doesn’t hit .300 as part of the equation but that’s the market today, I’m still very happy that we got Jason Bay. Finally a step in the right direction for this team.

  He seems like kind of a morph of Kevin McReynolds and John Olerud
  • Tom Terrific December 30, 2009 at 9:09 am

    Ed, nice piece. I was making the McReynolds comparison to some friends about a month ago and, frankly, I don’t think it’s a plus. It only works out for the Mets if this guy has some passion for the game and is good for the clubhouse. I think McReynolds failed in both those areas.
• Satish Ram December 30, 2009 at 9:29 am

  You know what’s interesting, is that if Bay produces anywhere near what he can do on a regular basis (and i’ve seen this pointed out above), is that he can definately be better than McReynolds. In addition to having consistency in LF, we found a cleanup hitter. And if the Mets sign Molina, which seems to be inevitable… We may have consistency at C, too, even if he is a little older.
  • jdon December 30, 2009 at 3:46 pm

    When Piazza was 36 and catching, there were all kinds of concerns about his age. And he, albeit juiced, was in very good shape. Why not any concern for a fat, decidedly out of shape man? That is my concern. Molina is lazy behind the plate. He probably calls a good game but he does not block pitches well and his arm is down from what it used to be.
• D.C. December 30, 2009 at 9:56 am

  Kevin McReynolds was a good ballplayer playing for the Mets back in the late 80s. Man, I hope Bay will make us a contender in 2010 and beyond.
• Mike Lloyd December 30, 2009 at 10:15 am

  Good article Ed.
  I don’t disagree with your comparison, but believe Bay is a much better offensive player than McReynolds, his numbers are schewed by his injury riddled 2007 as well. Defensively, McReynolds was excellent.
  As for personality, I agree with Tom T., and jdon above. Kevin McReynolds had no passion for the game of baseball. Bay is well liked as a teammate, and seems to play with a bit more sense of urgency and fire…
• Alan December 30, 2009 at 11:39 am

  Hey Ed…

  Despite the fact that Jason Bay should give us some quality pop in our lineup much as Kevin McReynolds did..he will never give us the kind of defense that Kevin did. McReynolds was a great outfielder that could throw and led the N.L. outfielders in assists a few times. Unfortunately for Kevin, he was devoid of all personality. He played hard and his baseball instincts were very solid but because he was so laid back he was perceived as not liking to play. No fanfare, no turmoil or scandals. come to the ballpark, play hard for 9 innings..next day it starts all over.

  The season is 162 games…I’ll take a quiet guy who just does his job instead of a guy who is always causing turmoil and is always looking for a the spotlight!
• sarge December 30, 2009 at 1:33 pm

  Great article and comparisons Ed. It gives us the chance to compare him to another player, similar in a way, and look forward to his anticipated output. I know that Jason is no Kevin on defense but he has Beltran to help which is a lot more than Kevin had in CF during his Mets tenure, not that he needed it. I like the fact that Bay is a quiet person that can handle the media pressure and still go out and do his job. Quiet professional. Once again great article Ed.
• Dan Lewis December 30, 2009 at 2:49 pm

  Yeah, so, no, not really.

  From season age 25-30, Bay put up a 131 OPS+. That’s his whole career, basically (he had 107 PA a year earlier) and it’s park and era adjusted.

  For the same age period, McReynolds put up a 121 OPS+. And that includes two years as a Met, after which he fell off quickly. Before the Mets acquired him, he was a career 111 OPS+ coming off a career year.

  To put that in perspective, Jermaine Dye was a career 111 OPS+ player at the age the Mets traded for McReynolds, while Carlos Lee was a career 113 OPS+ player at the age the Mets signed Bay. Bay is *much* better than McReynolds was.
• Kay December 30, 2009 at 5:14 pm

  We’ve had Jason Bay before; his name was Jason Bay……:)
• theonlymaskman December 30, 2009 at 6:15 pm

  Good article for perspective. If Jason Bay exceeds the performance of Kevin McReynolds, and he should, everything will be just fine about this signing.
• Ed Leyro December 30, 2009 at 7:23 pm

  Thanks for the comments! I expect bay to put up better numbers than McReynolds did during his good years with the Mets (1987-1990). Here’s another interesting tidbit. In the 1988 season, McReynolds finished third in the NL MVP voting. That season, he primarily hit fifth in the order (121 games batting fifth, 14 games batting third, 9 games batting fourth), batting behind Dykstra/Wilson, Backman/Teufel, Hernandez and Strawberry.

  McReynolds’ protection was mostly Gary Carter (89 games batting sixth) and Howard Johnson (52 games in the six hole). Carter hit .242 and Johnson hit .230 that year. Therefore, he didn’t have much protection behind him.

  Dykstra and Wilson had a lower OBP than a typical Jose Reyes season in 1988, as Dykstra’s OBP was .321 and Wilson’s was .345. Teufel hit .234 with a .306 OBP. (Backman was an effective tablesetter, as evidenced by his .303 batting average and .388 OBP) Keith Hernandez was already on the downside of his career as well, hitting .276. Darryl Strawberry had a career year in 1988, finishing second in the MVP voting.

  Therefore, only Backman (who played half the time) and Strawberry were able to do well in front of K Mac, while no one behind him protected him. He still hit .288 with 27 HR and 99 RBI.

  Now let’s compare the current Mets team, assuming the players can produce the numbers expected of them.

  Jose Reyes is superior to the Dykstra/Wilson combo.

  Luis Castillo is similar to Wally Backman, but better than Tim Teufel, although Teufel had more power.

  Carlos Beltran is superior to the 1988 Keith Hernandez in all offensive aspects.

  If Bay hits fourth, he will have Wright and Francoeur protecting him. If he hits fifth, he will have a .300 hitter in front of him in Wright and Francoeur behind him. Francoeur was far better in his half-season stint with the Mets last year than the combo of Carter and Johnson was in 1988.

  Therefore, if McReynolds could have that type of season in 1988 with the hitters he had in front of him and behind him, imagine what Bay can do in 2010 and beyond with superior players batting around him.

  Now I’m thinking I should have included that in the blog instead of in this comment.
• SC-NJ December 31, 2009 at 12:19 pm

  Just what we need….if your comparison to McReynolds pans out….three run homers when the Mets are up a bunch of runs.
• I’m Reading: Faces, McReynolds, Pennants & Piazza — NYFSBlogs December 31, 2009 at 4:30 pm

  [...] to Ed from Mets Merized, Jason Bay is Kevin [...]
• Charlie December 31, 2009 at 11:42 pm

  Great job Ed. I totally agree with the comparison between Bay and McReynolds. I made the same comparison on my own site on November 14th. http://www.metsgomets.com/2009/11/jason-bay-kevin-mcreynolds.html