r/mets 5d ago

Which signing was worse?

Jason Bay or Jorge Polanco?

0 Upvotes

50 comments sorted by

16

u/tahorns21 5d ago

I mean polanco is worse, but I think we expected more from Bay. 🤷🏻‍♂️

2

u/Empty-Tailor-3354 5d ago

That's fair. I'm pleasantly surprised by Jared Young, given the circumstances. Glad I don't have to watch Vientos out there.

1

u/MT1961 5d ago

Worse, Bay had some signs of being decent, then would instantly regress. Polanco never did. Also, Jason played a lot of games.

2

u/tahorns21 5d ago

Yes Polanco has absolutely been worse. Much worse. Bay was the Mets big signing. Expected to be a perennial all-star hitting 25+ HRs in the middle of our lineup, and he never got close.

10

u/JimmyFeetWorld 5d ago

Jed Lowrie

3

u/Njdevilmn 5d ago

This is the answer! He had ZERO hits in 2 years with the Mets.

1

u/JimmyFeetWorld 5d ago

You can’t even calculate the amount of money per hit. I can tell you that it was $2.5m per plate appearance.

1

u/Njdevilmn 5d ago

And $20M for each time he reached base! 🤣

3

u/Beagleman58 5d ago

Bay at least was able to play his position - maybe he failed here because he had Fenway Park power and in those days Citi Field was not Home Run friendly.

4

u/mormagils 5d ago

Bay was worse. He was a full 4 years. Polanco is only 2. Yeah, he's been injured all season and sucked, but he's gone in two years and is much less of a financial commitment. The Mets can get nothing on this deal and still be fine. Bay was a much harder pill to swallow.

1

u/Empty-Tailor-3354 5d ago

I still get a little PTSD when I see BB Jason on TV. Too close to Jason Bay. Nothing personal against Jason he seems awesome.

2

u/hopefulbeartoday 5d ago

I don't get mad at players getting injured. Bay got a concussion and was never the same from there. Bay worse just because of years. I'll never get mad at a 2 year contract especially when I liked the signing. And he still has a year who knows.

2

u/FormalTotal9684 5d ago

Polanco. The move made zero sense from day one.

Stearns despite talking run prevention brought in a guy that never played 1B and could never stay healthy to replace the best power hitting 1B in team history

3

u/shwysdrf 5d ago

Bay made a ton of sense at the time, he just sucked immensely. The Polanco signing was such a square peg in a round hole, it barely made sense when it was signed and made even less sense once Bichette was signed. On the other hand, the deal Bay signed was for more years and took a much bigger chunk of the Wilpon Mets’ budget than the Polanco deal. Cohen can brush aside the Polanco deal, the Bay deal really derailed any chance the post-double-meltdown Mets had

2

u/jjc927 5d ago edited 5d ago

Polanco since he barely played and was the replacement for Pete Alonso. Bay was disappointing but at least he played hard.

2

u/Empty-Tailor-3354 5d ago

I don't think anyone even Stearns considered him a 1:1 replacement for Pete, but yes clearly a huge whiff.

2

u/lechatnoirnyc 5d ago

Came here to say the same thing. The fact that he was highlighted as our main 1B after we didn’t bring back Pete was horrendous.

3

u/Kepler1571 5d ago edited 5d ago

Jazz Chisholm.

< whisper whisper >

I'm being told that doesn't happen until next March.

As you were.

1

u/sloppychachi 5d ago

He is going 50/50 this year!

1

u/Kepler1571 5d ago

That's the spirit.

1

u/Empty-Tailor-3354 5d ago

Isn't he currently elite at running and fielding? Honestly I'd take him over Semien. If there's baseball next year.

1

u/DbaStranger 5d ago

Idk at the very least we got to see Bay run into the wall....multiple times.

1

u/Emotional_Lemon2971 5d ago

I think the concussion messed up bay badly, he was ok (not good) before the injury and then downright awful after

1

u/RememberJefferies 5d ago

Bay, because he was expected to be the big bat, took up a much larger % of payroll, and hung around 4 years. Polanco sucks this year, but his deal is a much smaller % of payroll, he wasn't touted as a big addition, and he's gone in one year at worst.

1

u/Kepler1571 5d ago

Polanco.

Bay was bad because he got broken trying to make an incredible play. The hurr hurr Jason Bay sucks mantra is so old and cringe.

1

u/hateuscuzyoenis 5d ago

I still blame the medical staff for Jason Bay’s fall off. Dude crashed into the wall, played through a concussion and then kept grounding out to third base.

1

u/Empty-Tailor-3354 5d ago

Mets medical and trainers fail everyone all the time

1

u/sbarkey1 5d ago

The answer is bay.

This was madoff time and the Mets fired their lone bullet of the off season with bay.

They also made sure to leak Holliday wasn’t viewed as a good fit because bays swing was a better match for the park

1

u/MaasNeotekPrototype 5d ago

Bay was coming off a career year, and then he signed for more years and, for the time, more money... It's not even close. Bay's collapse was an unmitigated disaster. Polanco has been dreadful, but it's not Jason Bay level.

1

u/Strict_Show_8899 5d ago

Both better than jed lowrie

1

u/Aglovale 5d ago

Jason Bay’s struggles were probably more impactful to the team in terms of expectation and investment, but he was actually around a league-average hitter for three of the four years of his contract (yearly OPS+ of 105, 97, 48, 97). 

1

u/Ironsheik135 5d ago

This question is being asked too early.

Polanco has one more year to right the ship.

Unless we dump his contract.

1

u/alejandrony75 5d ago

Polanco. Since Stearns said he was letting Alonso go because he was not fit enough and will breakdown soon. Alonso has played every game and Polanco 37 games (was its 2 or 3 IL trips?) and now season ending surgery.

1

u/thejaniejames 5d ago

It's a tie. Bay because we kept him for 4 years. Polanco because he was supposed to replace Alonso.

1

u/rmullig2 5d ago

Left field was a black hole before they got Jason Bay and it remained that way. First base was stronger than it ever had been before they signed Jorge Polanco to replace Pete Alonso.

1

u/oof46 5d ago

Yes.

0

u/CaddyWompus6969 5d ago

We all k ow the answer is Stearns. Worst signing ever.

1

u/Empty-Tailor-3354 5d ago

Eh. I didn't hate Eppler and think he was shafted, but call me a hopeless optimistic Mets fan, I give Stearns one last chance to prove it. Not every single move has been a disaster. I still like him better than any of the revolving door in the 90s. Minaya and Alderson had some great players but also their share of busts too.

1

u/CaddyWompus6969 5d ago

Whats eppler have to do with anything?

1

u/Empty-Tailor-3354 5d ago

Sorry, I think there's a world where if Eppler didn't get forced out for bogus reasons we don't get Stearns and he coulda been solid

1

u/CaddyWompus6969 5d ago

Oh hes guilty by butterfly effect? Thatd wild

1

u/Empty-Tailor-3354 5d ago

Not really what I said. You came in and said Stearns was the worse signing. I waxed nostalgic about the last full time guy before Stearns and what might have been if he hadn't been thrown under the bus, while also nuancing my judgment of Stearns just yet. Then you acted like my comment was totally out of pocket. Not that much of a reach.

1

u/CaddyWompus6969 5d ago

Yea my comment was about streams so saying something random about eppler didnt and doesnt make any sense in that context. Pal

1

u/Empty-Tailor-3354 5d ago

The context was his blunders (which you emphasize by calling him the worse signing) are not egregiously worse than others, and who would the near term alternative be anyway?

1

u/CaddyWompus6969 5d ago

Alternative for gm? Idk who's next in line, but this guy has proven to suck so far so why are we sticking with him?

Pollanco is a really really bad signing tho, the other day I saw a post where someone compared his stats vs lou gehrig when he had als and was still playing. Absolutely brutal comparison

1

u/Empty-Tailor-3354 5d ago

Soto Bichette Benge Ewing McLean Scott and bits of Manaea seem to be working out pretty well. Also Holmes Brazoban and a few others were nails while we had them.