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.

A Jason Bay Solution

This year with the Mets, Jason Bay has hit .308/.421/.519 with a home run every twenty at-bats and an extra-base hit every nine-and-a-half. Oh wait. That's what he's done against left-handed pitching. That's pretty good! Of course, in three times as many at-bats against right-handers, he's hit a paltry .223/.287/.326. That's awful. Now let's make things a little more interesting: Kirk Nieuwenhuis, at the head of the line of Mets minor-league outfielders, is left-handed. So is Fernando Martinez, a long-time top prospect. So is Lucas Duda, currently manning the corner of Citi Field's spacious outfield opposite to Bay. That really, really looks like a situation that calls out for some platooning, doesn't it? I've been advocating the release of Bay, but honestly I think with numbers like those against lefties we'd be much better served just making him share some playing time. It's just a thought.

In fact, it's a thought that gives me a pretty decent idea of what to do with the entire offensive side of the team. You'd have catchers Thole and Paulino, infielders Davis, Tejada, Reyes, Wright, Murphy, and outfielders Bay, Pagan, Duda, and Nieuwenhuis. That's 11 players. There are two people who can play every position. With very little sacrifice of quality any which way, you could get down to one righty (Wright) against a right-handed starter or two lefties (Davis and Duda, both of whom handle lefties well) against a left-handed one. Overall it's four righties, five lefties, and two switch-hitters. There's room for two more bench players. As far as I'm concerned Nick Evans ought be one of them, and I'd love to see Scott Hairston back, though I imagine there are plenty of competent thirteenth-man types. I think it adds up to a pretty compelling offense, honestly, and not even a very expensive one.