ANDREW BAILEY'S DAYS AS RED SOX NUMBERED

ANDREW BAILEY

Tomorrow is the deadline for teams to 'tender a contract' to players that are eligible for salary arbitration.

What will the Red Sox do with Andrew Bailey ?

Bailey arrived in Boston before the 2012 season, after being the Oakland A's closer. He was traded to Boston with Ryan Sweeney for Josh Reddick and two minor leaguers.

On April 4th,2012 it was announced Bailey would require reconstructive surgery on his right thumb and he started 2012 on the disabled list. He returned in August and finished the season with 15 1/3 innings pitched and a 7.04 ERA.

Bailey began 2013 as the Red Sox middle reliever for closer Joel Hanrahan. But when Hanrahan was injured early in the season Bailey became the closer. He appeared in 30 games and had 8 saves and a 3.77 ERA when he suffered a shoulder injury that ended his season.

Bailey had shoulder surgery on July 24th,2013 and is expected to be out until mid 2014.

If the Red Sox tender him a contract he will probably be awarded a contract of over $ 4 million. The Red Sox have until tomorrow to decide. "Ben and I had a good conversation at the end of the year", Bailey said Saturday, "It's a business. We  haven't had any contact yet. I'll just wait and see. Hopefully something will get worked out. If they take me through arbitration or not, I love the city, love the area, love the guys, and it'd be great to get the opportunity to play there again. I'd love to be back in Boston. I don't really know what's out there for me. In my mind, we're going through arbitration until I'm notified otherwise. If that scenario happens, I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm a Red Sox. I haven't even thought about those scenarios yet. Until something is on the table, you try not to think about it".

The Red Sox could offer Bailey a minor-league deal similar to Rich Hill when he was recovering from Tommy John surgery.

More than likely though he will be on his way. The Red Sox bullpen turned into a position of strength for the Red Sox last year. Bailey has not really been a part of that as he has been injured most of his time in Boston.

Tomorrow is the day he could be leaving.