As we get closer to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler, the Batter's Box POTD is getting into the spirit of things by focusing on some of the Canadian baseball players who made it front of the camera lens during the 2009 season. Today, we follow the trail of one player who has moved from the American League East to the National League East.
Trail, B.C.'s Jason Bay waits for a pitch from Jays reliever Shawn Camp in the fifth inning August 18th at Rogers Centre.
Bay connects for his 26th home run of the season to help the Boston Red Sox beat the Jays 10-9.
Barring some unforeseen circumstance, Jason Bay will finally get his opportunity to wear the pinstripes of the New York Mets in 2010. The 31 year-old right-hitting outfielder recently signed a free agent deal with the Mets worth $66-million dollars over four years. A 22nd round draft pick of the Montreal Expos in 2000 from Gonzaga University, Bay won a battling title with Clinton of the Midwest League in 2001 by batting .362. Despite that accomplishment, Bay was dealt to the Mets with pitcher Jimmy Serrano for utility man Lou Collier in March of 2002. His stay with the Mets organization lasted just over three months as he was moved to San Diego in a deal that involved four right-handed pitchers. The other notable players saw Bobby Jones head to the Padres and Steve Reed wind up with the Mets.
The 2003 season marked Bay's arrival to the bigs and he homered in his first game off Arizona pitcher Matt Mantei May 23rd. His stint with the Padres was cut short by a broken wrist after he was hit by a pitch and he was then shipped off to Pittsburgh with lefty Oliver Perez and righty Corey Stewart for outfielder Brian Giles in late August. Bay hit .291 and slugged .507 in 97 plate appearances with the Pirates to end the 2003 campaign. That was the springboard to Bay's 2004 National League Rookie of the Year campaign. Even though he missed the month of April because of right shoulder surgery, he batted .282/.358/.550 with 26 homers and 82 RBI to become the first Canadian to win rookie of the year honours.
The 6-foot-2, 200 pound outfielder continued to put up more impressive numbers with the Bucs by batting .306 with 44 doubles, 32 homers and 101 RBI in 2005 and clubbed a career high 35 homers with 109 RBI in 2006. He was 21 out of 22 in stolen base opportunities in '05 and was 11-for-13 in that department in '06.
Things went south for Bay in 2007 when he hit just .247 with 21 homers and 84 RBI and his OPS dipped to .746 after being north of .900 the previous four seasons. He regained his form in 2008 when he hit .282 with 22 homers and 64 RBI but was traded to Boston at the July 31st trading deadline as part of a three-way deal with Pittsburgh and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The deal saw Manny Ramirez wind up in Hollywood. Bay returned to the 30-homer, 100 RBI level by adding nine home runs and 37 runs batted in while batting .293 in Boston. After helping Boston clinch the American League wild card berth, he clubbed three doubles, three homers, nine runs batted in and added eight walks in the post-season but the Red Sox wound up losing the American League Championship Series to Tampa Bay in seven games.
Bay continued his strong play with Boston last season with a batting line of .267/.384/.537 while reaching career highs in home runs and runs batted in with 36 and 119. The Red Sox came close to reaching a long-term deal with the free-agent to be but the team's concerns about Bay's knees and shoulder ultimately scuttled a potential contract around the All-Star Break. Bay's final game with the Red Sox turned out to be Game 3 of their American League Divisional Series against the Los Angeles Angels in which the A.L. East champion Sox were swept in three straight games. He hit just .125 with one single and three walks in 11 trips to the plate.
The three-time All-Star (2004, 2005, 2009) and two-time winner of the Tip O'Neill Award (2004, 2005) begins the next chapter of his career with the general manager who first traded him in 2002. It was current Mets general manager Omar Minaya who dealt Bay to the Mets back in 2002 when he was the GM of the Expos. The Mets will look to Bay to supply some much needed power into their line-up as they begin year two of their existence at Citi Field.
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