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If you'd like an indication of how the recession is affecting baseball, look no further than Jason Bay in Boston. When the 2008 season ended, Bay was coming off a scorching playoff run in Boston and everyone expected him to sign a lucrative extension with the Red Sox in the offseason. Then the market for outfielders collapsed and Adam Dunn, Pat Burrell, and Bobby Abreu all signed short-term deals for $10 million a year or less.
Now, the Red Sox are saying that they're not even going to discuss an extension with Bay before the season starts. We've already heard that talks between Bay and the Sox were virtually non-existent, so this isn't really surprising news. Bay's making $7.5 million this year, which is more than Abreu and about the same as Burrell's new deal with Tampa, so if he's looking for a raise it makes a lot of sense that the Red Sox aren't completely willing to give him one right now.
Bay, of course, has at least a little bit of an advantage over guys like Burrell and Abreu because he's younger than they are and because he's a bit more of a complete player. His best bet is probably to go out and try to have a big year in 2009 to make himself an attractive target on the free agent market next winter, in the hopes that the Red Sox decide they'd rather wrap him up for a few more years than try to sign the potentially more pricey Matt Holliday or Vladimir Guerrero, who will both be free agents next year.
The question for Bay right now is whether or not the economic situation is going to get better during the season. It's entirely possible that most of the league takes a bath on ticket sales this year and there's even less money to go around in the winter of 2009-10 than there is right now. If that happens, Bay might be lucky to even match the $7.5 million he's making right now.
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