31-year old righty swinging outfielder Jason Bay finished in 7th place in the voting for the A.L. MVP Award last season. He played in 151 games for the Red Sox last season and he was 142 for 531 (.267 avg, .921 OPS) with 103 runs scored, 36 homers, 119 RBIs and 13 stolen bases. He has now played in 922 games in his 7-year major league career and he is 927 for 3,313 (.280 avg, .896 OPS) with 579 runs scored, 185 homers, 610 RBIs and 66 stolen bases. The Red Sox should bring back Jason Bay because it will be hard to replace the numbers he put up last season for the BoSox.

30-year old righty swinging 1B/3B Kevin Youkilis finished in sixth place in the voting for the A.L. MVP Award as he had the best season of his career in 2009. He played in 136 games for the Red Sox this season and he was 150 for 491 (.305 avg, .961 OPS) with 99 runs scored, 27 homers, 94 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. He has now played in 689 games in his seven year major league career and he is 705 for 2,413 (.292 avg, .878 OPS) with 424 runs scored, 93 homers, 408 RBIs and 19 stolen bases. It’s up in the air as to whether Youkilis will be playing 1B or 3B next season but one thing is for sure and it’s that Youk is one of the best players on the Red Sox and in the A.L.

The Red Sox are definately picking up the option for 2010 on starting catcher Victor Martinez worth $7.7 million bucks. The 30-year old switch hitting Martinez played in 56 games for the Red Sox last season after coming over from Cleveland at the end of July and he was 71 for 211 (.336 avg, .913 OPS) with 32 runs scored, 8 homers and 41 RBIs. Overall last season, Martinez played in 155 games with the Indians & Red Sox in which he was 178 for 588 (.303 avg, .861 OPS) with 88 runs scored, 23 homers and 108 RBIs. Martinez is a clear upgrade on Jason Varitek so it wasn’t a hard decision to pick up his option. He has now played in 877 games in his major league career and he is 971 for 3,246 (.299 avg, .837 OPS) with 445 runs scored, 111 homers and 559 RBIs.

UPDATE: The Red Sox have picked up the option on Victor Martinez’ contract.

UPDATE II: Victor Martinez finished in a tie with C.C. Sabathia and Michael Cuddyer for 21st in the voting for the A.L. MVP Award.