Red Sox Still Working With Jason Varitek

"We have the two young guys who combined to form a pretty good platoon last year at Pawtucket in George Kottaras and Dusty Brown,"

I really hope he intends to use one of those 2 as the backup behind Bard this season and just forget about Tek.. Take the draft picks and let him go elsewhere, retire, whatever..

Scott is going to have to realize that he is nowhere near being "in control" of these negotiations. Besides the Red Sox, who has even mentioned Varitek to Boras? My guess is 2 years, $12 Million.

Negotiating with Tek could be a bluff to get Jon Daniels to part with Salty or Teagarden.

"between Veritekkkkkkk and Pettite im not sure whos more pathetic !!.."

def veriteck at least pettite got offered 10mil

"between Veritekkkkkkk and Pettite im not sure whos more pathetic !!.."

def veriteck at least pettite got offered 10mil

Posted by: patrick | January 08, 2009 at 08:55 PM

And Pettitte wasnt offered arb, he wouldve taken it....Varitek turned down arb!!! who knows why, scotty b must have been feeding him some crap

"If Boston signs him all the fans will love him and if he doesn't he'll be put on the dirtbag list.Boston is so classy kicking a guy on the way out of town."

It is not Bostons fault that he listened to Boras and greedily rejected 10 million dollars. I lost a lot of respect for him and im glad that rejecting arbitration did not work out for him.

Theo obviously knows that with Varitek as catcher the team sacrifices offense. Yet, he seems willing to do just that...which suggests he has other ideas in mind to address the deficiency. Since the shortstop situation seems stuck in 1st gear one has to wonder if the search for an outfield bat is over yet. Baldelli is nothing more than an insurance policy and Ellsbury would make a nice supersub...OR maybe good tradebait for more centerfield power (Holliday is expensive and leaving next year...and Beane likes the good cheap glove of Ellsbury). Its also clear there is major reluctance by Theo to trade the Sox' good young prospects for a mostly untested young catcher (either Tea/Salt)...but not so much hesitation to trade for a good young experienced player (Hanley). Hmmmm...can this mean the Sox are sleuthing for a better grade of catcher (young AND experienced) while playing the waiting game with Varitek? Perhaps Ianzatta, Shoppach, Doumit or ....? It just doesn't seem logical that given the upgrades by NY and Tampa the Sox braintrust is ready for a return to offensive mediocrity at catcher, center AND shortstop. One of them maybe. Possibly even two. But Three?

I think the soup's still cookin'...

""If Boston signs him all the fans will love him and if he doesn't he'll be put on the dirtbag list.Boston is so classy kicking a guy on the way out of town.""

Boston has already made an effort to bring him back at a hefty salary. It was called arbitration. Varitek turned it down.

Ellsbury aint goin anywhere ...Theo thinks he's going to mature and grow into a awesome stud... varitek will be behind the plate... for one more year ...Theo knows he's got to go get someone and he will but not at any cost and as far as shortstop... thats the place he's working hard on... he needs to pull something our of his Red Sock for that one

"Theo knows he's got to go get someone and he will but not at any cost and as far as shortstop... thats the place he's working hard on..."

Why can't Jed Lowrie play SS?

I think he can.

lowrie will develop

seriously though,why wont the sox trade bucholz? i dont see much in him, alot like sowers, who everyone in management here loves for some reason.

"Why in f-cking hell would you make Ellsbury a supersub?!?!?!?!? This guy plays really good defense, steals a ton of bases, and is an overall really good player. He's 25 and in his first full season in the bigs. The OBP will come. A light hitting, VERY good defensive CFer who also steals quite a few bases is pretty good."

Ellsbury runs like a rabbit...and hits like one, too. Wishful thinking won't change the fact that he can't steal bases if he's not already standing on one, and waiting to see if his lousy OBP gets better (and thats a BIG if) is a luxury the Sox can't afford...unless they upgrade production at catcher and shortstop. They need the rabbit's production (or at least his OBP) NOW, not later. And at this point Lowrie is an average shortstop, nothing more and nothing less.

Ells = Coco Crisp and Lowrie = Alex Cora with a little more pop. Add that to JV's imaginary bat and you have a potential megahole in the Sox' batting order...again. Nope, they CAN'T be done yet...

Ellsbury put up a .280 BA and stole 50 bases last year, that is perfectly acceptable for a young leadoff hitter. Yes, his OBP was low and he was very streaky, but I think he's learning from the struggles he had in the middle of the summer. If he were in any place other than Boston he would be considered outstanding for a rookie. The kid came in 3rd in ROY voting, he'll be fine (or at least acceptable) in the future, though I'm not convinced that he's going to be the best leadoff hitter in the league anymore, like I once was.

Lowrie played half the season with a broken wrist and still drove in 46 rbi in 260 AB. He had 8 SFs, high for the number of ABs he had, and that is one of the things I look for most in evaluating hitters. He is at least a league average hitter at his position, and above league average as a fielder. Is he the next Nomar? No. But he's a cheap solution to a position that the Sox have been completely lost at for the last few years.

Therefore, if you're going to upgrade the lineup, the logical position would be at catcher. Shoppach would be my preference right now, but Salty and a few others would certainly be acceptable. Tek is worth around $4M right now, considering his poor seasons in 2006 and 2008 and barely average season in 2007, and they shouldn't give him too much leverage in any negotiations, considering he declined arbitration. He's a great guy and one of the most important guys in the history of the Red Sox, but it seems obvious to me that age is catching up with him.

coming from a tribe fan (and shoppachs one of my favorite palyers) you dont necessarily want to go down that road. shop wont have a 35hr season andmaybe not a 35hr season. it was his first yr so he saw fastballs and crushed them. i know shop has the potential to be a very solid catcher but with shapiro at the wheel, youll be gevingup alot

If Jacoby is a supersub, so is Cano. No Yankee fan will accept this, which drills a gaping hole in both your logic and lineup.

Ellsbury should have no problems increasing his Avg next season. For the ones whom did not watch tons of Sox games and have only the stats to look at.. Ellsbury had a hole inside with pitches last season that he managed to "cover" well from mid-August until the end of the season. He may not have much of a power zone as of yet in the bigs, but he did hit some pretty nic (and long) HR's at Fenway which shows that the potential is there.

Anyone whom would put a guy who steals 50 bases, plays as solid a CF defensively as he does and hits .280 on the bench, must have a Tori Hunter guy already penciled into the spot, 'cause Ells is the real thing.

"Why in f-cking hell would you make Ellsbury a supersub?!?!?!?!? This guy plays really good defense, steals a ton of bases, and is an overall really good player. He's 25 and in his first full season in the bigs. The OBP will come. A light hitting, VERY good defensive CFer who also steals quite a few bases is pretty good."

Ellsbury runs like a rabbit...and hits like one, too. Wishful thinking won't change the fact that he can't steal bases if he's not already standing on one, and waiting to see if his lousy OBP gets better (and thats a BIG if) is a luxury the Sox can't afford...unless they upgrade production at catcher and shortstop. They need the rabbit's production (or at least his OBP) NOW, not later. And at this point Lowrie is an average shortstop, nothing more and nothing less.

Ells = Coco Crisp and Lowrie = Alex Cora with a little more pop. Add that to JV's imaginary bat and you have a potential megahole in the Sox' batting order...again. Nope, they CAN'T be done yet...

Posted by: Lock | January 08, 2009 at 10:33 PM

Yes, and with that "megahole in the Sox' batting order", they finished 3rd in MLB in runs scored. This despite the fact that Papi and Lowell had injuries/sub par seasons. Try selling your snake oil somewhere else.

I was looking at Bill James forecast for Varitek if signed.
122 Games
395 AB'S
94 Hits
13 HR'S
45 Runs
52 RBI'S
51 BB'S
113 K'S I know this stat, Theo must be thinking about.
.238 AVG.
Tell me what does a Major League Catcher deserve for these stats?
Bill James works for the Sox.

Two reasons why Ellsbury's bat should improve in 2009:
- 2008 was his rookie year. As he approaches his late 20s he should increase power (not that he'll ever be Griffey) and improve pitch selection (with experience).
- Last year he was basically a super-sub (LF 58 games, CF 66 games, RF 36 games), often as a defensive replacement. Almost all players hit better when they start consistently at one position.

The Sox need to resign Varitek. I have no idea why everyone thinks all these names getting thrown out at catcher are upgrades offensively over Varitek. Most of these guys bat .220. I'll take Tek's defense and game-calling expertise for one year over giving up any prospects for these guys.

If they are going to trade for a catcher, then trade for a real catcher, not a Montero-type.