Kay didn’t go much further into detail, but I’m wondering a few things:

Did the phone call actually make Kay’s friend reconsider canceling his season tickets? Would it make you reconsider? How hard would it be for you to say no to a Mets’ player?

What other Mets, if any, are asked to make these kinds of phone calls? Is Bay at home being fed these phone calls from a switchboard at Citi Field? Or is he actually at the office, sitting at a desk making phone call after phone call working an 8-hour shift?

How many people have called to cancel their season tickets? There must be a good number of people calling to cancel or else the Mets wouldn’t deploy such a strategy of having players make phone calls, right? Does this come off as a desperate move by the Mets?

Am I thinking too far into this?

I thought this was quite an interesting thing for the Mets to do.

What’s your take?

Citi Field plays big but I can’t only blame the stadium’s dimensions for the Mets lack of home runs in 2009. If there were a huge discrepancy between the amount of home runs they hit away from Citi Field compared to at Citi Field then maybe we could have concluded the size of the stadium was the main factor but that’s not the case. The Mets didn’t have healthy power bats and David Wright didn’t have a big power season which contributed to the power outage. Injuries played a major factor in the low total as well. With the addition of Jason Bay and a healthy lineup, the Mets should increase their home run total in 2010 no matter how tall the center field wall is.

Bay’s four-year $66 million contract doesn’t allow the Mets to address other glaring needs through free agency, but the signing will provide the Mets with a much needed power bat in the middle of their lineup. Bay, David Wright, and Carlos Beltran will bat third, fourth and fifth in some order. 

The signing of Bay is meaningful for the fact that the Mets may not have a power hitting first basemen. Whether their first basemen be the young Daniel Murphy or an older Carlos Delgado, it doesn’t seem as though they’ll receive much power from that position. Citi Field is a big ballpark and the Mets need someone who can drive the ball to the deep parts of the field.

While the Mets were in pursuit of Bay, it was said that Bay did not want to join the Mets. Bay denied those allegations at the press conference.

“I wouldn’t have signed the contract if I didn’t want to be here or I wasn’t happy. This is one of the biggest days of my life,” Bay told the media. 

Bay has hit over 30 home runs and 100 RBIs in four of the last five years. Last season, with the Red Sox, he hit .267 with 36 home runs and 119 RBIs. Bay was one of the top three free agents on the market.

Bay will be the Mets left fielder and will most likely be penciled in as their number five hitter after David Wright and Carlos Beltran.

Mike Francesa broke the story on WFAN this afternoon. Yesterday, he preempted something big would happen with the Mets today.

With the top free agent pitcher off the market, teams will turn to second-tier pitchers like Joel Pineiro and Jason Marquis. Look for the Mets to pursue one of those pitchers and turn their full attention toward Jason Bay.

Ed Price tweeted, “Source: Free-agent P John Lackey to take physical with Red Sox. Boston apparently moving on to 2nd choice after Jason Bay. Working to confirm.”

This has implications on both the Yankees and Mets. 

The Mets have extended an offer to left fielder Jason Bay, formerly of the Red Sox. Boston has made at least two offers to Bay, but he has turned them both down. It looks like the Lackey signing means Boston will walk away from Bay. Now that Bay isn’t headed to Boston, the Mets are more of a likely landing spot for Bay.

Lackey to Boston makes the AL East tougher and may force the Yankees to dip into the free agent pool or trade market for another starting pitcher. Beckett, Lackey, and Lester will be tough trio to face. The Yankees will be in no rush to do so though.