Rob Bradford of WEEI.com is reporting that the Red Sox have made an offer to Jason Varitek. This offer would pay Tek $5 million in 2009 and include a team option for 2010 at another $5 million. Varitek can also exercise a $3 million player option if the team declines their end of the option. Varitek has been clear in that he wants a multi-year contract, so this may satisfy both parties. The Red Sox have given Varitek an unknown deadline of when to accept the offer.
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That offer sounds fair to me…
Heres to hoping Cap is back behind the plate in 09..
I, for one, expect somewhat of a bounce back year for Tek…something like .250 BA, .350 OBP, 12 HR, 60 RBI..why? bc you can see by the way he moves around the field and runs the bases that he’s still in good shape…everyone knows he takes good care of himself
I think last year, Tek just had a bad year, plain and simple..and at this stage of his careerhis bad years will be ugly
hes still a very valuable member of this team, and I really hope hes back
SOX IN 09 and BEYOND!
I love giving two years and $8M in guaranteed money to 37 year old catchers that is coming off an abysmal production year and one that possesses a noodle for an arm too.
I love giving two years of a guaranteed sum of $8M to a rapidly declining 37 year old catcher who possesses a noodle for an arm too. Seriously, this guy shouldn’t have gotten anything better than a 1 year contract worth $2M. If intangibles are immeasurable, then Varitek should be paid in magical beans.
I concur. I can live with 1 year and 5 mill, but the bonus just doesn’t seem like a good idea to me. In my mind I really don’t see Tek getting any better and he could possibly be worse. Anyone who watched the games last year saw that his bat was excruciatingly slow. He had to cheat on fastballs and was totally vulnerable to anything with movement because he couldn’t adjust. It doesn’t matter how well he runs the bases once a player loses bat speed it generally doesn’t come back and that more than anything else is the reason he can’t hit anymore. If he hits .250 with a .350 obp it may be a sign of the apocalypse.
I was kind hoping that he’d go elsewhere so the team could get a few extra draft picks, he won’t be a Type A free agent next time around.
Hi Bob. You and Pat make valid points, and Tek may continue to be that dark hole. But several things make this a good signing IMO:
1. If Tek and Bard from the 8th hole, no matter how they divide up the games, can COMBINE for .250/15-20/60, .350/.400 (Bard has a very good bat) we will have one of the better catching stats in the game.
2. Tek/Bard is a better choice to handle this evolving pitching staff than Bard/Montero or Bard/Salty, though I trust Bard for this, which is why we got him. Pitchers trust him.
3. Having Tek work with his successors (Bard, Kottaras, Brown, Salty, Monte, whomever) will ease the transition for the entire team.
4. A two year contract allows him to segue seamlessly from catching to coaching, in a Sox uniform. We win.
5. A $5M annual contract, which is much more than his contemporaries are getting, shows respect for Tek’s historic contributions, and respect for hsi game in 2009. The Sox can afford it and Tek deserves it.
However, if Tek walks, we will be fine with Bard and whomever makes the cut before ST.
True, but do you honestly expect Varitek to platoon under Tito? There’s no way. Also, the organization has never shown favoritism toward guys who’ve made historic contributions (Pedro, Nomar, Damon), why did they make an exception here?
Binky is back!
I doubt that the contract offer (if the details are true) was driven by emotion. Clearly, the FO’s offseason handling of Varitek has not been based on emotion; they did nothing to spare Varitek’s feelings. They left him dangling out there for months.
The way things have played out, I think the trading price for a young catcher was simply too high. Tek was their fallback position.
And he’s not a horrible fallback. Even if you assume that he’ll basically match last year’s numbers, he’ll still be a good catcher who’s seen as a masterful handler of pitchers. He’ll bat eighth or ninth. Like most major-league teams, the Sox will have a catcher who is not expected to contribute offensively. It’s certainly a comedown from a few years ago, but it’s not a catastrophe.
Look at it this way: you’re paying $5 million for an adequate stopgap catcher PLUS the ability to hold onto the top prospects who would’ve been shipped off in a trade for a young catcher. To me, it’s a reasonable deal.
yeah but the Sox would have gotten 2 draft picks if Tek had signed elsewhere, which would probably offset the loss of prospects.
I actually would have preferred a Bard/Kottaras combo. If Tek is back he should 1) be platooned which probably isn’t happening 2) start using Papelbon’s offspeed pitches.
There are certainly nice memoried of Varitek. But let’s not forget that last year we were all calling him the Automatic Out, and it wasn’t much of an exaggeration.
Yeah, but the problem with that argument Bob is that NOBODY was going to give Varitek any money if they had to give up a first (or second) round draft pick. Which basically means that either Tek would have ended up sitting out until after the June draft and the Red Sox would get no compensation after he signed or he would have signed with a team like the Yankees where the Red Sox would only get a fourth round pick. I think the Sox have handled this ridiculous situation about as well as they could have. The prices for a Salty or Montero were much to high for the chances of getting a decent return. I’m happy with either a Tek/Bard combo or Bard plus Kotteras/Brown. Hopefully this just gets resolved soon…
I expect Tek will have a better 2009 than his 2008, but probably not by much. What I want to know is when will he fire Boras?
Theo’s done a bad job here. IMO it’s 50/50 that Tek agrees to this contract and there appears to be no Plan B if Tek walks. Teams like Texas will only increase their trade demands if they see the Sox are vulnerable and even more desperate for catching help. Do any of us really want a Bard/Kottares catching tandem this season? The issue really isn’t Tek here. The issue is how the Red Sox catching position has been allowed to die on the vine over the past few years. The decline in Tek’s game has been evident for awhile yet Theo had done nothing to strengthen the catching corp. Not good!! This may be the year it really becomes a huge problem for this team.
I’d rather see Bard/Kottaras than Tek if he turns down this offer. This is more money than he should be getting anyways.
Bob the point is the Sox shouldn’t be in a position where Plan B is a Bard/Kottaras tandem if they lose their .220 hitting 37 year old full-time catcher. Theo’s done a bad job here.
First off, if I understand correctly, he could have backed his way into 10+ million a year. So Varitek is a schmuck!! But kharma says that the captain will recoup — find his tools, earn his dough ,lead the team forward. It is Varitek’s destiny and ours as well. How many more magical no-hitters will he call and catch? 1? 3? Who is next. Will he get 75 RBIs? Will he punch A-Rod in the face again? Catch Smoltz — in the post season?
Welcome back Captain!!!!
Oh ye of little faith. You knew he’d be back. You know he can exceed!!!
I’ve said many nice and complimentary things about Vtek in the past, so allow me to be blunt.
He chose to enter free agency. In free agency, the market sets your value. In the current free agency market, nobody was willing to lose a draft pick to sign Jason. To me, that indicates that his market value is no greater than what a top-level draft pick will get this year. He ought to quickly put pen to paper on this more-than-generous offer. And he shouldn’t feel disrespected by the Red Sox. He should feel misled by his agent, and fire Boras’ a$$ for giving him the worst advice a player has ever recieved.
Tek would be a fool not to sign. Although I agree with one of the previous comments suggesting the Sox’ offseason has been conducted in an unemotional manner, this particular situation smacks of, dare I say, “sympathy” from the FO (and maybe a PR attempt to quiet all those folks who complain about the way the FO treats their aging players). I’m not expecting much improvement in production from Tek, however the thought of him catching this staff has me salivating! (at least until his ability to throw out runners hits