Kannengieser: Jason Bay = Kevin McReynolds? We Should Be So Lucky

Or as my old bar buddy “Liverspot” Lattimore used to call McReynolds…“The Pulled a Rock from Little Rock”

I wasn’t self aware during most of McReynolds’s time with the Mets but have read enough about him to understand his storyline—talented player who didn’t have much passion for the game. Evidence suggests this might be true, but it’s the first part of the storyline that is most important. Pearlman might be right that Bay is not an “oomph” player, but who cares? You don’t pay for “oomph”; you pay for talent. And despite his defensive shortcomings and the fact that the Mets overpaid a bit, Bay has plenty of talent. Enough to post a .397 wOBA in the powerhouse AL East last season.

For purposes of the following comparison, let’s assume Bay’s option vests and he plays five years with the Mets, just as McReynolds did. Listed are McReynolds’s Mets season-by-season WAR per Baseball Projection and Bay’s projected WAR, starting with the CHONE projected 4.0 for 2010 and knocking 0.5 off each year:

...That 4.0 starting point might be a bit generous, but even so McReynolds outperforms the hypothetical Bay performance. WAR isn’t infallible but it’s not as if McReynolds’s totals were inflated by fluky defensive stats—he posted wRC+‘s of 149, 128, 122, 120 and 106 with the Mets and played nearly every game. Give me a durable power hitting corner outfielder over a spark-filled dynamo who is only on the leaderboards for dirtiest uniform and most buffet tables flipped. Bay is the next McReynolds? Awesome!