Bay credited his time in Boston for helping him prepare for playing in a big media market. When he arrived in Boston from Pittsburgh, The 31-year-old said there was a period of time where the Red Sox understood that Bay needed to get “used to how everything works.” Bay feels that experience wouldn’t have been possible if he had stayed in Pittsburgh, saying that “I feel like I’m comfortable. That’s one less unknown going on.”
Bay spent one year and two months in Boston (not including postseason), knocking 45 home runs in that time span. Acquired to replace Manny Ramirez, Bay was an All-Star in 2009 when he drove in 119 runs and finished seventh in MVP voting.
During contract negotiations with the Red Sox and Mets, one topic that came up repeatedly was Bay’s ability to transition from hitting at Fenway Park to the Mets’ one-year-old stadium, Citi Field. Bay dismissed any such notions that going from a hitter-friendly Fenway to a stadium heavily geared towards pitchers impacted his feelings on going to New York.
“I honestly never gave a ballpark any second thought,” Bay noted.
“At the end of the day, I try to get on base and I try to knock in runs,” Bay said. The right-hander also feels that Citi Field has been unfairly labeled as a pitcher’s park, saying that “you need to give it more time to really feel it out.”
Bay also touched upon his departure from Boston stemming from the team reportedly pulling its four-year contract extension offer in favor of a two-year pact after questions about his knees surfaced.
“I understand it’s a business,” said Bay, who had “a few” doctors contradict what Boston’s doctors felt. “You’ve got to do what you have to do and I understand that. The
perception started to be that I was coming down as a broken-down
player, which was farther from the truth… I feel as healthy as I ever have.”
