Pirates and Bay come to an agreement

Jason Bay has officially signed for the next four years, that's next year in which we control his rights and his three arbitration years, for $18.25 million, with $750,000 possible in incentives. The fifth team option year was left on the table, apparently at Bay's request (and who can blame him for not wanting to lose his first year of free agency). This is a solid move for the Pirates as it saves us the trouble of worrying about a Bay extension and it saves us a bunch of money by not having to go to arbitration with Bay. They'll probably try to spin this as a new commitment to winning. Just remember that Bay was ours for the next four years no matter what and all this does is make us pay him less money assuming he stays healthy for all four. Keep in mind that I'm not complaining here, this is a great move for the Pirates and it's exactly what they needed to do here. Just don't believe them when they tell you that it's something that it really isn't. It's a nice sign of loyalty to Bay to negotiate with him before he's arbitration eligible but it's not a special commitment to winning. It's just something that makes a lot of sense. On the other hand, it's nice to actually see the Pirates do something that makes a lot of sense. If they'd do that more often, we'd probably have to wonder less about their "commitment to winning."