The Strange Journey of Oliver Perez and Jason Bay

On January 18th, 2012, left-handed pitcher Oliver Perez signed as a free agent with the Seattle Mariners. On November 3rd, 2012, he re-signed with them, after spending a surprisingly effective year working in relief. Then, on December 8th, 2012, the Mariners also signed outfielder Jason Bay. Thus continues the odd journey of these two players through Major League baseball together.

Ollie made his Major League debut on June 16th, 2002 for the San Diego Padres. Bay made his debut on May 23rd, 2003, also for the Padres; Perez was still on the Padres at that point, so they were Major League teammates for the first time. Then, on August 26th, 2003, Bay and Perez were traded together, along with a player-to-be-named-later, to the Pittsburgh Pirates for outfielder Brian Giles. They were teammates there, their second MLB team together, for almost three years, until Perez was traded along with Roberto Hernandez to the New York Mets on July 31st, 2006. Perez stayed with the Mets for a good long while, and Bay stayed on the Pirates until exactly two years later, July 31st 2008, when Bay was moved to the Boston Red Sox as part of the three-team Manny Ramirez trade. Bay spent a rather impressive year-and-a-half with the Red Sox, and then became a free agent; he signed with the Mets, where his friend Mr. Perez was pitching (not very well), on December 29th, 2009. During the 2010 season, Bay and Perez were teammates on the Mets, their third Major League team together. And now, after both infuriating Mets fans for years and being unceremoniously released despite large amounts of money still owed them, they find themselves on the Mariners together. Come Opening Day 2013, they'll probably be teammates on their fourth Major League team.

These two players, so linked in Mets fans' minds as symbols of the ineptitude of recent years, seem to have been linked throughout their careers, from San Diego to Pittsburgh to New York (with a brief detour up to Boston for Bay) and now to Seattle. They were even part of the same trade package! I can't wait to see what success they'll have together for the Mariners this year. I can scarcely believe that Bay could regain his form, but then again, I would have said the exact same thing about Perez, too.