Red Sox and Bay Table Contract Talks = Good News For Yanks

According to the Boston Globe, contract extension talks between OF Jason Bay and the Red Sox have been tabled until after the season. Theo Epstein had the following to say:

“The market has changed so much from two years ago to this winter, from a year ago to now,” Epstein said. “Who knows where it’s going to be a year from now? So that unpredictability, I think, has created a landscape that’s been difficult for us to navigate in terms of getting an extension done a year early. Both sides wanted it, so we tried. But both sides recognized that it’s just too difficult to get done right now.

“We had some talks [earlier in the offseason], but they weren’t really substantive. Recently, we’ve had more substantive talks. It’s become clear that because of the unusual marketplace, we’re not going to get anything done during spring training. We’re going to sort of halt talks for now, just table them. But both sides have committed to maintaining good dialouge throughout the course of the season.”

As the regular readers of the blog know, I am hoping that Bay is available this offseason to fill one of the holes in the outfield created by the pending free agency of Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, and Xavier Nady. At worst, another talented outfielder on the market should keep the price lower for players such as Matt Holliday and Manny Ramirez. Bay is likely to come with a lesser price tag than both of those stars, while providing similar production. He would be a nice fit at number 5 in the Yankees order, and I hope that he and the Sox fail to find common ground.

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