Big Words.

The opening shots have been fired in the Jason Bay Free Agency Conflict and Bay's agent, Joe Urbon, has apparently come out swinging. Says Urbon:

"I think the only defensive statistic that I know for sure that is easily measurable is outfield assists and errors committed, and Jason is just the third outfielder in major league history to lead the league in outfield assists while not creating an error all season, the last guy being Carl Yastrzemski. It used to be that those statistics were enough. In baseball we all need a better evaluation of defensive ability but the defensive metrics we have out there are so debatable, and in most cases proprietary, that it is hard to quantify a player’s ability to play defense."

Outfield assists are a nice thing. No doubt about that. And to tell you the truth, I didn't realize that Bay had fifteen last season or that he lead the league. But c'mon errors? Errors are a crap statistic. They're subjective on the part of the scorekeeper and therefore are not easily quantifiable. And I'll say that it also drives me nuts that it's not public information how zone ratings are figured out--how can I trust that they don't just pull the numbers out of a hat, if I can't plug in the numbers myself. But let's be realistic, Jason Bay is no Yaz.

“Jason Bay is a serviceable outfielder. That’s what we know. We know that Jason bay can play left field. Some will say he’s average, some will say he’s below average. But he’s certainly not a DH or, as someone described him, a hockey goalie out there.”

Ok. I'll give you that it's not going to kill the team to put him in left field; he's not dead weight. Plus, you've got a rangy centerfielder who takes away the need for Bay to ever move to his left. (Meanwhile Jacoby apparently has defensive issues of his own.) I wouldn't call him a hockey goalie, though. A statue? Maybe. But not a hockey goalie. Toward the end of the season they played a game with Josh Reddick in left. Someone hit a little bloop to short left and Reddick came charging in and caught the ball. It was by no means an amazing catch (maybe it was down by his knees) and wouldn't normally have been a play of any note but I was stunned, absolutely stunned that it wasn't a base hit. I guess it shows that you can get used to god awful defense.

Look, I like Bay. I do. He seems like a perfectly nice fellow. I certainly wouldn't be adverse to them bringing him back. But no matter how you spin it, defense has never been Jason Bay's strong suit. Plus he strikes out too much.