The former Mets farmhand, former Met, and former Mets bust calls it quits.
After an earlier round of retirement rumors, Jason Bay has decided to call it quits, officially announcing his retirement after eleven years in the big leagues.
In his walk year with Boston in 2009, Bay put up a 134 OPS+, but after signing with the Mets as a free agent in 2009 for four years and $66 million, injuries torpedoed his productivity. In his three years with the club, Bay managed a mere .234/.318/.369 in 1,125 plate appearances (90 OPS+). This is such an inauspicious end to a career that could have been so much more, had injuries not finally caught up with him. In a career that also saw him play for the Padres, Pirates, Red Sox, and Mariners, Bay earned 2004 Rookie of the Year honors, three All-Star selections and a 2009 Silver Slugger award.
By the end of the 2012 season, Bay’s time in New York was up. The Mets were able to buy out the last year of his guaranteed contract plus the vesting option. From there Bay moved on to the Mariners, where his performance did not improve, amassing just 236 total plate appearances and hitting .204/.298/.393 in 2013.
