The language is a little curious, but the outcome is not: outfielder Jason Bay is no longer on the New York Mets. From MLB.com:
Jason Bay, Mets ‘part ways’
The beleaguered outfielder is now a free agent.
Anthony Gruppuso-US PRESSWIRE
BREAKING: @mets and outfielder Jason Bay agree to part ways. Bay immediately becomes free agent.
— MLB (@MLB) November 7, 2012
That's the verbiage used by the Mets in an e-mail sent out to announce the move: "part ways." It's like they sat us down on our race-car bed and told us not to blame ourselves. Bay becomes a free agent, which changes the roster-addled fantasies of exactly no one.
The 34-year-old Bay came to the Mets in 2010 after a monster final season in Boston. He signed a four-year deal worth $66 million, but hit only .234/.318/.369 over three injury-riddled seasons in New York. His last season garnered player-of-the-year honors from our very own Rob Neyer, but not in the way you think.
There’s no word yet on whether the Mets and Bay agreed to a partial buyout, which certainly would have needed to be run by the Players’ Association first, or if he was simply released. The Mets called it an “early expiration of his contract,” which explains ... nothing, really.
Update: Bay is getting the $21 million he was owed before the “early expiration”, but the difference is that some of it will be deferred now. Just like Bobby Bonilla!
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