5
2011
Jason Bay Brings Out The Boo In All Of Us
An article by 
Jason Bay is being paid $66 million by the New York Mets to suck. Judging by the boos at Citi Field, he is earning every penny of it. But what are they booing exactly? Is it the lack of home runs by Bay after smashing 36 longballs for Boston in 2009? Is it the failure to drive in runs after recording four 100 RBI seasons in the five seasons prior to becoming a Met? Or is it just that Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo are no longer around, so someone’s gotta get the boo treatment.
Well, my fellow Mets fans, I think it’s a combination of all those things. Jason Bay has been a disappointment. He’s barely been worth $66, let alone $66 million. So feel free to boo him if you choose to do so. If you still don’t see why he should be booed, let me throw some numbers at you about Jason Bay that you might not have known.
There have been 96 everyday players (non-pitchers) in history to strike out at least 125 times as members of the Mets. Of those 96, only one of them has not registered at least 500 career at-bats for the Mets. That player is Jason Bay (127 Ks in 482 at-bats).
This year, Jason Bay has a slugging percentage of .291 in 134 at-bats. To put that into perspective, Jason Isringhausen has a .299 slugging percentage in 97 career at-bats for the Mets. Sticking on the Jason vs. Jason theme, Bay has 10 RBI this season in those 134 at-bats. In 37 fewer career at-bats, Izzy has 11 RBI.
Jason Bay has 38 extra-base hits in his Mets career (482 at-bats), which means he collects an extra-base hit every 12.7 at-bats. Here are former Mets with similar numbers:
- Victor Diaz: 39 XBH in 350 at-bats.
- Tsuyoshi Shinjo: 38 XBH, 514 at-bats.
- Luis Lopez: 37 XBH, 548 at-bats.
- Desi Relaford: 35 XBH, 301 at-bats.
- Marlon Anderson: 33 XBH, 446 at-bats.
- Dave Gallagher: 33 XBH, 376 at-bats.
- Eric Valent: 33 XBH, 313 at-bats.
- Marv Throneberry: 31 XBH, 371 at-bats.
- Tim Bogar: 30 XBH, 491 at-bats.
- Chico Walker: 30 XBH, 440 at-bats.
None of those hitters would be considered a great, or even good hitter. Similarly, none of those hitters ever earned anything near $66 million or a comparable amount for the era in which they played.
Let’s face it. Power hitters are going to suffer when they sign with or are traded to the Mets. Citi Field is the park where home runs go to die. However, the dimensions of the park should not do anything to a player’s extra base-hit total or strikeout total. Apparently, Jason Bay never got that memo.
So if you still don’t think Jason Bay should be booed at Citi Field, perhaps the reasons listed above might cause you to rethink your booing strategy. $66 million bought the Mets a plate at Jason Bay’s all-you-can-K buffet. All you have to do is buy a ticket for far less than that to let Bay know that he hasn’t been worth the price of a Happy Meal.
About the Author: Ed Leyro
Ed Leyro was hatched in the Bronx, but spent most of his youth in Queens at Shea Stadium. Apparently, all that time spent at Mets games paid off as Ed met his wife (The Coop) for the first time at Citi Field during its inaugural season. Guess the 2009 season was good for something after all. In addition to his work at Mets Merized Online, Ed also owns, operates and is head janitor at Studious Metsimus, where he shares blogging duties with Joey Beartran. For those not in the know, Joey is a teddy bear dressed in a Mets hoodie. Clearly, Studious Metsimus is not your typical Mets blog.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 30 | .583 | - |
| Phillies | 35 | 37 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Nationals | 34 | 36 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Mets | 27 | 40 | .403 | 12.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 48 | .314 | 19.0 |
Last updated: 06/19/2013
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It doesn’t help anyone for us to boo someone but it’s really directed at the morons who keep bringing in these guys.
Customer dissatisfaction. People are fed up with the Wilpon bringing in a different under performing or injured player every year and then cheaping out on the draft and international free agents so we then continue to never have enough guys on the way.
And it doesn’t have anything to do with the park cause he hit better here last year than he did on the road and he isn’t exactly flying out on the warning track or banging the ball off the wall. He’s just unable to pull the trigger on pitches he used to hit well.
Loss of bat speed and it aint coming back. He’ll hit a few here and there, but overall the right two non tenders in a platoon would double his numbers for about 1.5 M a year.
actually in this case it is because he absolutly sucks, and has nothing to do with sending a message to the wilpons.
Of course, the people are booing the GM who wouldn’t give you a job. Your hate rolutines are really sick. You can post hate toward Omar all you want but it just shows more and more readers what a pure bigot and hate monger you are false agee.
I don’t care how awful Bay has been or will continue to be. As much as I would like to see him gone, I would never BOO him. Do you know why? It’s something that I wrote a whole post on last season. You don’t BOO your own players unless they are clearly not hustling or they continuously make terrible mental mistakes. I’m sure Bay is doing everything he can to justify his contract–and to me, that’s much more pressure on playing for a new contract–so be upset, curse him out under your breath, stick pins in a Jason Bay doll, but don’t BOO him. Boos should be saved for right wing Republican schmucks.
I don’t know for sure the reason that Jason Bay’s performance has fallen off. Bat speed? Blindness? In any case, I’d never boo a player who’s given all he’s got.
You were doing great TomT, until you showed your mental age of about 13 when you introduced politics into the discussion. Irrational.
Ruben Tejada
What’s a maer Des, tom says what he beleives and you, who hypocritcally call out others, can’t do anything but name call. obviosuly, another brain dead kool aide drinker. Maybe someday sandy will enter politics and tell you how to respond to political statements. You and agee one mind, with nothing in it.
Harry, This site is about all things baseball. Let’s all keep politics out of it. Everyone has her or his own view.
booing will not change anything.a trade or a trip to buffalo might not be a bad idea
Face it, we are stuck with Bay, but it doesn’t mean he has to play, I say bench him, they are a much better team with ANYONE else playing LF.
In 2005, it took Met fans less than 2 months to boo Carlos Beltran. It took Met fans over a year to blast Jason Bay. The non-Latino Met fans get what they deserve. They cried about Omar giving out long term deals only to Latino players, so Omar FINALLY gave you desperados one of your own and THIS is what you get. ENJOY HIM! Careful what you wish for.