It seems as if the New York Mets have certainly lucked out. After holding out against the Red Sox for the last half year, Jason Bay has signed with the Mets. This deal is hopefully what will be the first in what the Mets want to be a series of moves to improve their on-field product. The Mets had what appears to be the best offer on the table monitarily, and Bay will be heading to New York with a four-year, $66-million contract in his back pocket.

His new contract is just barely above what his representatives were telling him he could get. Boston was offering Bay $60 million over the same time span. It seems that a measly six million extra is all Boston would have needed to offer to Bay in order to keep him in Beantown. Or more realistically, Bay couldn’t find another offer anywhere else that he was happy with, so the Mets lucked out as the best of a bad situation for the Canadian slugger.

Whether or not Bay was truly unhappy in Boston is unclear. What is clear is that his style of play is less suited to Citi Field than it was to Fenway Park. While left field is not drastically bigger, the dimensions of Citi Field will require a significant change in Bay’s fielding. Also, as a right-handed hitter, Bay is going to have to hit some longer fly balls than he’s had to the last couple of years, but the Mets believe that if anybody can fill some of the gaping holes in their lineup, Bay is the guy to do it.

The addition of Bay is just the first in a series of moves the Mets need to make if they want to compete in the NL East next year with teams like the Phillies and the Marlins. They still need to add some pitching and solidify the infield if they hope to make an impact in 2010. The way they stood at the end of 2009, the Mets were on the same level as baseball’s laughing stock, the Washington Nationals. Now that Bay is officially added to the group, you can pencil the Mets in for another fourth-place finish.