Report: Red Sox Were Worried About Jason Bay's Knees

Outfielder Jason Bay was one of the bigger prizes in this winter's free agent class before he signed a four-year, $66 million deal with the New York Mets in early January. Of course, had it not been for some concerns of the Boston Red Sox and their medical staff, Bay may have never reached free agency at all.

According to Peter Gammons, the Red Sox were ready to sign Bay to a four-year, $60 million deal last July but when an MRI raised some concern about both of Bay's knees, the Red Sox lowered the offer to two years which Bay rejected and instead opted to hit the open market.

Gammons suggested that the dispute illustrated the need for an independent medical staff in the majors, since there is sometimes distrust by players about the health findings of doctors who are employed by a team.

"You had the same thing here with Jason Bay, when he agreed to the four-year, $60 million deal near the end of July and then the MRI showed some problems with both knees," Gammons said. "Ownership wanted it to be two years and he had to prove that he was healthy to be able to make it four years, and he wouldn't sign. This is no reflection on [Red Sox team physician Dr. Thomas] Gill and the Red Sox doctors, because they are probably the best in any sport. But the fact is, there becomes this disconnect where the player says, 'Is he doing this for the owners or is he doing this because of my knee?' That independent panel, I think, will almost certainly be a compromise that the owners will make."

Considering that the Mets gave Bay the deal they did, it seems pretty obvious that they didn't share Boston's opinion on the status of Jason's knees.

Of course, they are the Mets. Odds are that they don't even know about Bay's knees and he's currently talking to Carlos Beltran's doctor about having some minor surgery to clean them up.