Jason Bay rejected a contract offer from the Red Sox worth close to $60MM over four years, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com. We've heard for a while that Bay wants to test the free agent market, and so have the Red Sox.
"It's not a surprise that a player that's gone this far wants to see what's out there,'' GM Theo Epstein said.
Bay will hit the open market in 12 hours, along with John Lackey, Matt Holliday and the rest of this year's free agents. Heyman says the Red Sox are thought to have interest in Holliday as well as Bay.
Epstein told a group of reporters including WEEI.com's Rob Bradford that there's no firm timetable for signing Bay.
"This part of the process is important to him, so he’ll see what it’s like, see what’s out there and ultimately make a decision,” Epstein said.
