[UPDATE: Ladies and gentlemen, your 2010 backup catcher will be Jason Varitek. 'Tek exercised his option, and I for one am pleased he did. It'll likely keep him in Boston threads for his entire career, as well as give the club an option to make Varitek the personal catcher for Josh Beckett. $3 million is a bit steep for a backup catcher, but for Boston, it's worth it to keep Varitek.] [One more update: Hasn't happened yet, but... it will.]
Not a surprise: Jason Varitek’s $5 million club option for 2010 has been declined. As much as I may want ‘Tek back in a backup role for 2010, I wasn’t willing to commit $5 million to that role. Neither was Theo Epstein. The ball is in ‘Tek’s court now, and we’ll know by the end of the week whether he picks up his $3 million option.
If he doesn’t, he becomes a free agent who can negotiate with any team. Don’t rule out the Sawx offering ‘Tek arbitration, though: he’s a Type B free agent who would net the Sox a pick in the compensatory round (so no team directly loses its pick).
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Thank God.
Agreed Marcos. Thanks for the memories Tek, but the Sox probably held on a year too long here.
Uh, he is 100% picking up the option. He won't get anywhere near there on the open market.
If he was only catching when we play against a LHP it would be okay, but we all know that's not really hot that works. If the Sox want Beckett on the team past 2010 it would behoove them to let Victor Martinez catch him primarily, in order to get the two accustomed to each other.
$3m is too much for what 'Tek brings to the table, and I hope that the Sox simply release him. But we know they probably won't, so he's our problem for another year.
Agree with Evan. Not a problem at all. He will start off strong like last year. By working part time he will hopefully continue strong a little longer. By 9/1 at the latest his job will be working with Farrell and training the kids. His value to the Sox, besides catching Beckett and his clubhouse presence, is his future in the system as a coach. Exercising his option means we will have him through retirement and coaching. That's good for the team and RSN.
I haven't seen anything from him about wanting to coach after he retires. Is this just us guessing because we think he would make a good coach or is there anything tangible about it?
I also hope he isn't used exclusively for catching Beckett. If the Sox sign both V-Mart and Beckett to extensions, then our best catcher should be catching our second best starter. They should get used to each other as soon as possible to avoid any of that "Beckett needs his personal catcher" crap that's plagued us with Wake over the past few years. I also don't think it's a guarantee 'Tek starts strong again. He's a year older and a year farther away from his prime years. I'm resigned to him being on this team next year, but I'll hold my breath on him actually doing anything.
fehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Welcome back, .650 OPS backup.
i'm fine with this, i like the angle that keeps him in the organization as a coach long term as well. although, don't guys usually take a year or two off after they retire before jumping back in as a coach?
Can people just stop the whole "well this just sets Tek up to a coaching position" angle? If the guy wanted to coach, he'd be coaching (see Kapler, Gabe circa 2007). But he's not. He's playing. Also, if the guy were going to coach, he'd have to work his way back up like everyone else (see Kapler, Gabe circa 2007 coaching Class A). Why would he want to do that?
Also, I really hope that Tito doesn't turn Tek into Beckett's personal catcher. Let Tek catch Dice-K, Wake (deal with it Tek!) or whoever they sign next as their next reclamation project. I thought they should have cut ties after last season. I enjoyed watching him play so many years for Boston, but like Cashman always says – you'd rather cut a player a year too early than a year too late.
he can't catch wake. he like.. physically is unable to do it.
and this is not a year too late. this is like 3 years too late.
red sox did a terrible job figuring out an exit plan for him.
Not sure if the Sox would even offer him arbitration. Despite Varitek's terribleness, his tenure would encourage the arbiter to give him around $5 million. It's very rare for a salary to go down in arbitration.
Plus, a Type B free agent only yields a pick in the supplemental round, definitely no higher than #40 overall. Albeit, another team probably won't even want to give up that for Varitek, but that just gives him all the more incentive to go to arbitration and win $4.5 million dollars to be a sub-replacement catcher.
I agree, but I'd change "not sure" to "No way" the Sox offer him arbitration. I think he realized last year that when you get to his age there's just no market and accepting Arb. is the best bet.
And another team doesn't have to give up anything except money to get 'Tek, as picks in the supplemental round aren't taken away from the signing team, but are merely inserted into the round for the previous team. But you're right, 'Tek is either the back-up next year or is flat out released, that's my guess.
That presumes that he wouldn't. Managing in the minors is how one cuts their teeth and I think Varitek would enjoy a year or two in Greenville and/or Salem where there's no media to hound him and the fans are baseball fans first and Red Sox fans second, if at all.
Why would you presume he does want to coach? All we heard about Curt Schilling those last 5 years in Boston is how well he works with young pitchers, almost like an additional coach, maybe he'll think about going to coaching… yada yada yada. It's hard to be a coach, and a lot of players would rather pursue other options.