Tyler Hissey breaks down the careers of Jason Bay and Matt Holiday and wonders who’s the better value.
My take: I think the Sox should sign Bay. He’s going to be cheaper and has endeared himself to the Fenway Faithful. We have a bunch of good prospects on the way in the next few years that can play outfield.
That said, if Holliday rakes this year and puts his Coors concerns to rest, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Theo go hard for him to have him anchor the lineup into the next decade.
ALSO…
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Bay is now proven in Boston and I think Evan’s right about him being the slightly cheaper alternative. If he can continue to produce in Boston I would love to sign him to a 3 or 4 year deal at $12-15M per year.
The interesting thing to follow though will be how Holliday fares in Oakland and how that affects his value going into his free agency period. If he has a dreadful year in Oakland, Bay might end up being the more coveted player.
They’re essentially the same player in my mind, similar numbers, similar strengths and weaknesses. Bay’s been so good while he’s been here, no need to mess with that.
Agree on the Bay-Holliday similarities, though it would be find a better character guy than Bay.
Evan, sure don’t like the third place finish predicted by those Heater magazine stats. Don’t know why the losses of Abreu, Giambi and Mussina don’t seem to be part of anyone’s math for the half-billion $$ additions of Teixeira, Swisher, AJ, CC. I love that Cano and Melky are doing well in the face of Yankee fan sentiment to dump them both. I hope Boston fans don’t become like Yankee fans, eating their young.
Jason Bay has shown he can handle Boston and he can handle October. Holliday has shown neither. An added bonus is that Bay’s agent is a human being while Holliday is represented by Scott ~I’ll even exploit my deceased clients for some free Scotty PR~ Boras. Sign Jason Bay!!
A lot of it has to do with the money they will want, and years. If we can extend bay for 3 or 4 years then fine. But how big a contract will Holliday want once he hits free agency? And yes, as you mentioned, what Holliday does in Oakland matters a lot.
I agree with Nick.
Sign Jason Bay, as soon as possible.