Jason Bay happily put on his Mets jersey after two team executives fumbled with the buttons, then dispelled a couple of hurtful rumors, saying there were no issues with his shoulder or desire to play in New York.

With brilliant sunlight pouring through big picture windows in one of Citi Field's exclusive club rooms, the Mets new slugging left fielder saw only the upside for a ballclub that went an embarrassing 70-92 last season after a string of injuries wrecked the first season in its new ballpark.

"I wouldn't've signed the contract if I didn't want to be here or I wasn't happy. This is one of the biggest days of my life," Bay said Tuesday. "They've got a great group of hitters; arguably the best pitcher in baseball. What's not to like?"

The $66 million, four-year deal that returns Bay to the team that had him for several months in 2002 could be worth $80 million including an option for a fifth season. The 2014 option for $17 million would become guaranteed if Bay has 600 plate appearances in 2013 or 500 plate appearances in both the 2012 and 2013 seasons, something he's done in each of his six full seasons except 2004, when he was NL Rookie of the Year with the Pirates.

Bay passed his physical Monday, no small hurdle for the Mets, who had a roster of All-Stars miss significant time in 2009, including Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, David Wright and Johan Santana.

The Mets and Bay reached a tentative deal around Christmas but the wait until it was finalized led to clamoring by antsy fans and talk radio that he didn't really want to come to New York and that there were concerns about his shoulder.

"I actually never hurt my shoulder," Bay said. "That was another thing that actually had been me not refuting much and it just kind of took on a life of its own. I had surgery on it on 2003 and it's been great ever since."

Mets general manager Omar Minaya said Bay was the team's priority from the get-go _ the front office never felt outfielder Matt Holliday would agree to a a four-year deal _ but the contract took longer to finalize because of travel around the holidays.

"When we started this winter, we felt that one of these areas that we needed to improve on _ we felt that we had to slug more, to be able to have a power hitter, to be able to have a guy that would fit into the middle of our lineup," Minaya said. "I think today, having Jason up here, we achieved one of our goals this winter."

A lot more is going to be expected this time around from Bay, whose main accomplishment in his previous stint with the organization was driving Reyes to and from the field while both were teammates at Double-A Binghamton.