Bay Looks Ahead After Long Season

10/05/2007 10:59 AM ET

Outfielder struggles with offense, health issues in tough year

By Jenifer Langosch / MLB.com

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PITTSBURGH -- Jason Bay didn't need to make one last glance at the statistics. He didn't need to hear the grumblings of a fan base when he popped up in his final at-bat of the season, effectively finishing his year on an 0-for-10 skid.

He knew what each would point to.

Or, maybe better put, he felt exactly what each was the result of. And he had felt it all season long.

"I was fighting myself the entire year," said Bay, taking a seat in the clubhouse to rest his bothersome knee on the final day of the season. "The first few years I went up there and did the exact same thing every time and it worked out well. And then this year, for some reason mechanically, which never happens to me, I was out of sync with my timing."

Actually, it had happened once to Bay before, back in his early days as a Minor Leaguer, an experience that Bay now calls "the best thing that ever happened" to him. But at the Major League level, Bay had been a model of consistency, not necessarily putting up All-Star stats every week, but never enduring drawn-out slumps.

Then came 2007.

And in that respect, 2007 provided an entirely new challenge, both trying and frustrating.
"I'll tell you, I'm not sad to see the season end, that's for sure," said Bay, who finished the year sidelined with right knee tendinitis. "I guess before things have come pretty quick and easy to me ever since I got there. And I think it was kind of a little reminder that it's not that easy and you still have to go out there and you still have to work hard."

For the first time in three years, Bay fell short of the 30-home run, 100-RBI marks. His .247 average, .327 on-base percentage, 21 homers and 81 RBIs were all career lows since becoming the everyday left fielder. His walk total was down by 43 compared to last year, while his 141 strikeouts were just one shy of his total in 2005, when he recorded 97 more plate appearances.

On the day the calendar flipped to June, Bay carried a .310 average and looked as if he had a solid chance to become the first Pirates player since Tony Pena in the mid-1980s to earn All-Star invites in three consecutive years. But during the final four months of the year, he hit at a .209 mark.

He tried everything.

Manager Jim Tracy dropped Bay to the sixth hole in the lineup for 20 different games to try and minimize the pressure situations the left fielder would hit in. Bay hit just .214 in that spot.
Bay tried taking extra batting practice. He tried taking a few days off from batting practice. He tried playing through pain, while other times taking periodic days off to rest himself mentally. Nothing seemed to work. Nothing seemed to translate to prolonged success.

Tracy attributed part of Bay's struggles to the growing pains of having to counter the adjustments pitchers make to players that have been in the league for a few years.

"I don't care where you are at, but at any point in a career you're going to be looking at things and say you are forcing me to tweak this or tweak that," Tracy said. "That's part of the beauty of playing Major League Baseball."

Bay, on the other hand, didn't completely buy that argument.

"I didn't really get pitched much differently," Bay said. "I was doing a myriad of things and I would go to fix one thing and another thing would happen. I never came back thinking, 'Geez, they've got my number.' I just knew that I had numerous times to get hits. I was just fighting myself, which is something that I've never had to do before."

Bay hesitated, maybe to a fault, to use his ailing knees as an excuse for his struggles during the year. But last Sunday, as the team prepared for its final game of the season, the left fielder admitted that at the least, the health issues he dealt with didn't help.

As a result, everything took a hit. His mobility in the outfield was compromised. His propensity to steal bases all but disappeared.

Bay committed eight errors in left field after making only nine in the previous three seasons combined as the club's regular left fielder. The four bases he swiped finished down from 32 over the past two years combined.

Minor left knee surgery last offseason slowed Bay down initially, while right knee tendinitis plagued him throughout the year. The latter, Bay was told by doctors, was a direct result of the former.

"I was overcompensating on the [right] one when [the left knee] was weak," Bay said. "It's an overuse thing. It's been looked at. I've been told it's perfectly fine. We just need to rest it up so now that my left one feels great. Hopefully I can get that one under control so it's a non-issue."

Fortunately, he will have the entire offseason at his new home in Kirkwood, Wash., to do so.
He will also have the offseason to eagerly watch the pending changes within the organization. Bay, who has been outspoken in support of making changes within the organization, may also be spending time listening to his name tossed around the rumor mill.

Set to make $13.25 million in the final two years of a four-year contract, Bay could be used as a chip to bring in younger players or prospects if new general manager Neal Huntington decides to move in that direction. Though Bay's disappointing season may have slightly diminished his trade value, he could still entice a decent return.

Limited to just a pinch-hit appearance in the Pirates' final game of the season, Bay didn't look at the at-bat as potentially his last in a Pirates uniform. That is, not until different members of the media approached him about the topic.

"I have not given it one thought that this is the last time I am in this locker room," said Bay, who has been traded among three organizations in his career. "I want to be here. I want to be with these guys. I want to move forward and win. I don't want to go anywhere and I think I'll be back next year."

However, as the second-longest tenured Pirates position player behind Jack Wilson, Bay has seen the passion of the fans and their frustrations with yet another losing season. And, in return, he is ready to do whatever -- or go wherever -- he has to in order to see the franchise turn around.

"If it takes me being traded to get the fans that, then I'd be OK," Bay said. "I'd like to be a part of it, but I'd also like Pittsburgh to be excited about the Pirates whether it's with me or not. It sounds a little weird, but having gone through what I've gone through here, people deserve that."

Jenifer Langosch is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.