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Bay & Molina stalling the Mets offseason

Written by Mike Mariano | 21 December 2009

It's been ten days since the Mets put out contracts to Jason Bay & Bengie Molina with little to no response or discussion with those players.  Jay Bay is considering his reported four or five year packages while Bengie... sits around and eats vaca frita all day (I do say that's not a bad choice -- but in reality he's Puerto Rican and that's cuban food).  These two are clearly the Mets' targets and the entire offseason hinges on what they decide.  Also, the two deals may not be strictly independent of each other.  Kevin Davidoff (via MLBTR) explains the following: "If the team fails to secure Bay, it will strongly consider raising its offer to Molina. But if Bay signs, the Mets will hold a harder line with Molina."

Why would these two guys have anything to do with each other?  It's New York and the payroll is readily available.  Catcher vs. Outfielder.  I can't say.  It's a whole different story on why they're even going this hard after Molina in the first place, but we've covered that (as have we covered what bringing in Jason Bay means)

Obviously signing these two would wrap-up the bulk of the Mets offseason, but drawing it out is only hurting the Mets in the long run.  Unless Bay and Molina come down from their respective demands, the only thing the Mets are doing is wasting time that could be used to pursue alternatives.  For instance, Jonny Gomes became available today and would be a good one-year option.  But the Mets can't move on him until after the Bay decision and he might get scooped up in the mean time.  Personally, I'd rather Gomes on a one year, little money deal instead of risking four to five years and big money on Jason Bay, but I'm not sure my Mets counterparts agree with me.

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