With the latest contract offer extended to Jason Bay denied, some people think there's little to no chance of Bay going back to Boston:
Jason Bay's tenure with the Red Sox appears over.
The free-agent left fielder has rejected the team's latest offer and is entertaining better proposals from other clubs, according to his agent, Joe Urbon.
"We don't agree with their evaluation of the player," Urbon said. "Frankly, we have other offers on the table that are of greater interest to Jason."
Urbon left open the possibility that the Red Sox could circle back in the negotiations, but did not sound optimistic that it would happen, saying Bay was prepared to "move on."
But honestly: how much do we actually know about Bay, Urbon and the Red Sox?
Rosenthal is one, but there's more that agree -- for the most part -- with the sentiment. MLB.com's Ian Browne, via Twitter:At this hour, it would be a very big surprise if Jason Bay ends up playing in Boston in 2010.
So who's platooning with (Jeremy) Hermida in left?
After seeing Mark Teixeira sign with the Yankees last offseason, nothing really comes as a surprise any more when we're talking baseball free agency.
We don't even know what the Red Sox offered Bay for a contract. We haven't even heard confirmation from anyone other than Bay's agent Urbon that the Red Sox even extended a contract. With Bay's willingness to play in Boston, I'd have no reason to believe that if the Sox came to Urbon with a competitive contract, Bay wouldn't want to sign. After all, it could be a couple of million dollars that is the difference in all of this.
Essentially, we know no details about anything, so why jump to conclusions? The only person that knows anything is Urbon and we have no idea what he's holding back, if anything.
Jason Bay could be the Red Sox's 2010 left fielder. Or maybe not. I'd say it's 50/50 right now, because honestly, what do we really know?