New Face, New Place: Jason Bay, Mets

Jason Bay turned a career year at the plate with the Red Sox in 2009 into a four-year, $66 million contract with the Mets this offseason. So how will he fare in 2010?

Though this season's Amazin's lineup likely won't be quite as good as Boston's last year, it also shouldn't be as bad as some of the Pirates batting orders Bay was a part of earlier in his career, and he was still able to put up All-Star-caliber production in relative anonymity the Steel City. He should have a number of RBI opportunities if/when Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes get healthy and David Wright returns to form.

Much has been made about the Mets' homer-sapping ballpark, Citi Field, but perhaps a little too much. New York did hit only 95 homers last year as a team - 27 fewer than the next-worst team - but in many cases they had guys suffer disastrous/injury plagued seasons and were forced to rely on little-talented replacements. And they were also the worst road homer team as well, so it wasn't merely a Citi Field phenomenon.

The Mets did lower Citi's center-field wall from 16 feet to 8 for the upcoming season in an attempt to make the park more homer friendly. That may help Wright out, but probably not Bay, who hit the vast majority of his 36 bombs to left field at Fenway last season, according to HitTrackeronline.com. So while you can probably expect Bay's HR total to dip by a decent amount, he should remain consistent in other categories and perhaps even swipe a few more bags than last year (13) in his return to the NL. Bay deserves consideration as a top-10 outfielder in 2010.

Photo by The Associated Press

K-Rod needs a chiropractor

I've never experienced back spasms, so maybe I'm not the most qualified person to weigh in on this. But I'm not sure I've heard of an otherwise healthy major league ballplayer in the prime of his career having to be taken to the hospital for back spasms.

But that's just what happened to Mets closer and fantasy superstar Francisco Rodriguez on Saturday night. Not what you want to hear after you've been enjoying another stellar season from K-Rod so far: 12-for-12 in save opportunities with a 0.87 ERA. No word on whether the fine dancing skills displayed above with pal Jose Reyes are the root cause.

From what I can tell in researching this crazy-old ESPN.com page from 1999, back spasms are usually treated with ice, rest and an anti-inflammatory, so it doesn't seem like we're looking at major surgery or anything. There's no word on how long Frankie will be out, but if these things are painful enough that he had to go to the hospital and they can pop up randomly like this, I'd imagine the Mets will take their time in bringing him back. That means JJ Putz is an immediate pickup for K-Rod owners if he's not already been handcuffed or taken by someone else. The former Mariners closer pitched the ninth and got the save Saturday in a 3-2 win over the Red Sox.

Talkin' trades

I get asked what I think about fantasy trades all the time. I always have to start my answer with the same preface: "Well, without knowing your whole roster or your team needs, here's what I think ...."

That being said, my pal Sean asked me today what I thought of this deal: Ryan Braun and Troy Tulowitzki for Hanley Ramirez. My response was this: If you can spare the steals, do it in a heartbeat.

Turns out he'd be the guy giving up Braun and Tulo, so it was a no-go. But if I was the guy dealing Hanley, I'd be all over it. Sure, he's a beast at shortstop, and you'd be parting with a huge pile of stolen bases in the deal. But even if Ramirez hit 40 homers this year, you're looking at a minimum of 60 from the other two guys. Tulowitzki's probably a bit undervalued, but with him recovering nicely from last year's injury-plagued season, I can foresee him returning to his 2007 form - which would make him a top-5 fantasy shortstop, just a peg below the elite guys like Ramirez and Jose Reyes. Then add in the hefty average and minimum of 30 homers you're bound to get from Braun, and the deal's a winner.

Anyway, I pulled off a deal of my own the other day: I shipped Bobby Abreu for Scott Kazmir. I had a serious lack of pitching with Brandon Webb on the DL and Francisco Liriano and Max Scherzer not meeting my expectations. I was in a pretty good place with stolen bases and have a decent crop of outfielders (Alex Rios, Jason Bay, Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron), so I decided to part with Abreu. With eight steals already I figure he's probably already coming up on a third of his season total (30-25-22 the past three years); he's hitting .375 and hasn't topped .300 in a season since 2004; and he hasn't hit a homer yet, which is a little disconcerting. I belive Abreu will have a fine season, just not THAT fine a season at age 35.

I've always been a Kazmir fan, and while he does have his flaws (way too many pitches per start), he's another guy who's a bit undervalued because of some slight injury problems last year. If Kaz can stay healthy for 35 starts, the potential's there for a sub-4.00 ERA, 200 Ks and 15 W's. And that's exactly what my team could use.