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Here's what the Mets, and the whole MLB, would look like if Jason Bay wasn't ever a Met...

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In December of 2009, the Mets signed star outfielder Jason Bay to a four-year, $66 million contract. Bay was coming off a season in which he was an All Star and Silver Slugger. He had hit for 36 home runs and 119 RBIs the season before, with the Boston Red Sox. His great play that season led to him being listed by Sporting News as the 41st best player in the MLB. The signing seemed like a no-brainer, but as we know now, it was a pretty terrible move

Let’s check out what would’ve happened if the Mets hadn’t taken the bait and signed Jason Bay…

  • With the Mets backing off of Bay, the Red Sox re-sign Jason Bay to a four-year, $60 million deal.
  • The Mets are still in dire need of an outfielder, and they ultimately end up giving big money to Matt Holliday- to a seven-year, $127 million deal to be exact.
  • The Cardinals, after losing out on their trade deadline acquisition, Holliday, decide to go after another outfielder to take his spot. They trade for Curtis Granderson, the star outfielder for the Detroit Tigers. They trade Shelby Miller, David Freese, and Jason Motte to Detroit for Granderson.
  • Detroit acquired now-star pitcher, Max Scherzer, in the Granderson deal to the Yankees. Now that that deal is off the table, Scherzer stays in Arizona. While he excels there, and is a borderline All-Star, he doesn’t do enough to win 2013 Cy Young Award.
  • Granderson does so well in St. Louis that he is locked up long term, and doesn’t even hit the open market in 2013. In this case, the Mets have to look at other options to fill out the third outfield spot and play with Juan Lagares and Matt Holliday.
  • We know that in the 2011 World Series, the Cardinals ended up defeating the Texas Rangers as a result of David Freese’s heroic and historic play. However, now that he’s no longer a Cardinal, they end up falling short of the title, losing to Texas in 6 games.
  • To fill this final spot in the outfield, the Mets put away all bad blood and bring Carlos Beltran back for a second opportunity to excel in Flushing.
  • The Mets never sign Michael Cuddyer, as they have three very good outfielders in place, and he thus accepts the qualifying offer and returns to Colorado for the 2015 season.
  • With Shelby Miller calling Detroit home, the Cardinals no longer have him as a trade chip, and thus can’t acquire Jason Heyward to fill out their outfield. The Braves insist on trading Jason Heyward, so they look for other options.
  • The Braves end up trading Heyward and their #2 prospect, Lucas Sims, to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for their promising, young pitcher, Taijuan Walker.
  • All of these changes will lead to a bunch of other changes throughout the league…

What do you think about this scenario? What else would or wouldn’t have happened if the Mets didn’t sign Jason Bay?

COMMENT your responses!

Also, check out my last post on Amazin Avenue- a What if Scenario about Johan Santana

This FanPost was contributed by a member of the community and was not subject to any vetting or approval process.