The Mets have already missed out on two of their top free-agent targets. Omar Minaya’s club can’t afford to strike out on a third.
The Mets were rumored to have upped their offer to Boston’s Jason Bay yesterday. They are believed to have tacked on another year to their initial four-year, $65 million offer.
Bay hit .267 with 36 home runs and 119 RBIs in his first full season with the Red Sox. The Mets are in desperate need of his services after a dismal 2009 season. The Mets, who went 70-92, finished 25th in runs scored and dead last in homers with just 95.
“You can always use more power,”?Mets third baseman David Wright said down the stretch in September. “I’ll take all the help we can get.”
Unlike their pursuits of aces John Lackey and Roy Halladay, the Mets appear to be the front-runners in the chase for Bay. Boston simply doesn’t have enough cash to keep him after it shelled out more than $100 million to Lackey and outfielder Mike Cameron earlier this week.
Bay ideally wants a six-year deal, but unless his other suitors, perhaps the Mariners or Angels, step up their interest, he may have to settle on the Mets.
