Tuesday, August 5, 2008 | By Alex Eisenberg

Why the Red Sox Are A Better Team With Jason Bay

Over at the Hardball Times, I broke down why I felt the Red Sox are a better team with Jason Bay. This goes beyond both Manny Ramirez's and Jason Bay's hitting ability as when you factor in other variables, Bay you can argue is actually the better player. I felt this was the best time to revisit my last article on Bay in which I broke down his struggles from 2007, which I published before the season began. Below is an excerpt:

In baseball, timing and efficiency are everything. This holds true for both pitching and hitting. If the timing of a player's mechanics are just slightly off, the output of that player could still be dramatically affected.

The chain of events, from foot plant to the hip rotation to the bat's first aggressive movement forward—the actions that help a player produce a powerful swing—weren't being done efficiently. Compare the below clips from Bay in 2007 to Bay in 2008. Both pitches are thrown on the inside half of the plate at similar velocities. The 2007 fastball is hit over the wall near left center, while the homerun in 2008 is more straightaway center. See if you can detect the differences (Bay in 07 is on the left, while Bay in 08 is on the right):

Jason Bay

When Bay is going well, he plants his front foot aggressively enabling a forceful hip rotation. The hips and hands turn together, the front leg firms up and he uses it as a base in which to turn his hips on.