NEW YORK -- It feels familiar. A free agent signs a 4-year, multimillion-dollar deal with a Big Apple ballclub and seemingly forgets how to hit. The player, a good guy who works hard, is suddenly powerless at the plate.
Jason Bay once was that floundering former free agent. Bay signed a 4-year, $65 million contract with the Mets in 2010, but after hitting .234 with a .687 OPS over 288 games, agreed, at just 33, to accept a buyout in 2013.
These days, the struggling slugger is the Yankees' Chase Headley, who is in the second season of a four-year, $52 million contract.