Jason Varitek has filled various roles for the Red Sox since he hung up his catching gear after the 2011 season. For the past five years, he has held a full-time role on Boston’s coaching staff. Initially, the team’s game planning coordinator, he later added catching coach to his duties. When the Red Sox hired Parker Guinn last offseason, Varitek’s title changed to game planning and run prevention coach for the 2025 campaign.
The three-year deal Varitek signed before the 2023 season expired at the end of this year, but MassLive’s Chris Cotillo reports that the Red Sox and their former captain are hammering out the details of a new contract. The “likeliest outcome,” according to Cotillo, is that Varitek will return in the same capacity in 2026. Earlier this week, Cotillo reported that all but one of Boston’s coaches were expected to return to their roles next season, with assistant hitting coach Ben Rosenthal the only exception.
Of course, the fact that Varitek has not yet signed a contract with the Red Sox leaves open the possibility that he could seek a more prominent role elsewhere. Several teams are still hunting for new managers, and while Varitek’s name hasn’t come up in many managerial rumors recently, the Giants reached out to him with interest in 2023, and he interviewed with the Mariners in 2015.
In other coaching news…
- Another Red Sox great is looking to break into the coaching game. Nine-time Silver Slugger winner Manny Ramirez, who won two World Series titles alongside Varitek in Boston, has once again expressed his desire to become an MLB hitting coach, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Heyman notes that Ramirez is “getting word out to all 30 teams” that he is interested and available. The 12-time All-Star reportedly offered his services as a hitting coach to one unspecified MLB manager last offseason (per MassLive’s Sean McAdam), but this is his most overt attempt to secure such a gig. His accomplishments on the field speak for themselves – a .312 batting average, 555 home runs, and 1,831 RBI – but his coaching experience is limited. He spent a few months as a player-coach for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs in 2014 and continued on as an organizational hitting consultant through 2016. Years later, he signed on with the Sydney Blue Sox of the Australian Baseball League as a player-coach for the 2020-21 campaign. However, COVID-19 delayed the start of the season, and Ramirez was eventually released two games into the year due to injuries. This past September, he told Foul Territory that he spoke to the Red Sox about a potential coaching opportunity last year, but their conversations never progressed to anything serious.
- Yadier Molina, himself a former perennial All-Star and two-time World Series champion, has also thrown his hat in the proverbial ring for a coaching job. He posted a message on his Instagram account today saying that he is “ready to return to the field – whether as a coach or a manager – in MLB, Mexico, or wherever.” Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that Molina’s desire to coach isn’t new information, but his comments today move up the timeline. Meanwhile, MLB.com’s John Denton reports that Molina has already had conversations with the Cardinals and manager Oliver Marmol about taking on a formal coaching role with the club. The nine-time Gold Glove winner returned to St. Louis this past summer as a guest coach for two games. At the time, he told reporters, including Denton, that coaching and managing were in his future plans, but that he was focusing on his family for the time being. He has, however, gained international managerial experience in recent years, including managing Team Puerto Rico at the 2023 World Baseball Classic. He will return to manage the team in this winter’s upcoming WBC.
Bring Manny home to Boston as assistant hitting coach?
Would love for Manny to replace Fatse. Unfortunately, I don’t think he’d mesh well with the whole Driveline or bust mentality they have.
I think he’ll be fine. He’s played and coached around the world since his MLB playing days. Appears pretty humble on social media. Is there a urinal inside the Green Monster yet?
YBC – I think if you look around MLB, you won’t find many hitting coaches who were established MLB players. The analytics-driven front offices these days are staying away from former players because they don’t want former players teaching today’s players the same approach and principles that were used 10-20 years ago.
Last spring there was a very ugly incident in Red Sox camp only because a young player asked Jim Rice for advice. Not even HOF hitters are valued anymore as mentors. So I don’t think Manny would be a good fit in today’s game.
Very sad Fever. While Rice struck out a lot, he also made contact and took his walks. It’s disgusting in some cases what is taught. You couldn’t in my view have a better person giving a young kid pointers. Imagine if ated Williams was still alive…
He can turn the team on to steroids.
And show others where to relieve themselves during the game…
dewey – And teach outfielders how to high-five fans while making spectacular homerun-robbing catches.
Fever. apologies but I don’t recall Manny ever making an HR robbing catch.
Dewey – Miguel Cairo at Yankee Stadium.
He circled the bases before finally being told he was out. 😆
reddit.com/r/redsox/s/Ytth9ljEg8
yadi molina – Broke alotta ny hearts in 06
Still respect him
1st ballot hof’er
What he do in 06? Lol
Something tells me Manny would not be a good coach.
Savannah Bananas?
Maybe I’m the sourpuss but Manny Ramirez as a coach? Is he going to show younger players how to obtain steriods? He was a multiple-violator and it is clearly why his HOF voting numbers are so low. He was absolutely raking when first caught, and like most of the cheaters, initially said he had unknowingly ingested a banned substance. Yeah right – he took hCG, a woman’s fertility drug. Maybe he was trying to get pregnant!
If they ever let Bonds,McGwire or Sosa in the Hall of Fame,why can’t Manny coach?Manny knew how to hit,like Bonds he wanted to be even better.
TB – Yes, unfortunately Manny’s wife can confirm he knows how to hit ……
Sorry, I was a huge fan of Manny during his playing days but between the multiple PED violations and the DV charges it’s difficult to support him today.
Did you watch Manny hit? The guy had the best eye and one of the best swings I’ve seen.
Like Bonds, he didn’t need to take roids to have an amazing career.
Joe – We don’t know how long Manny was taking them. Could have been his entire career, like ARod.
With Bonds we know he didn’t start until after he left Pittsburgh.
I wonder if Paul Toboni will give Varitek an interview for the Washington Manager Job
Varitek should take a job with another organization. He’s stagnating in Boston. He should be the manager and Cora should be dumped, but Cora’s safe. So even if Varitek ended up a coach elsewhere, he’d get a better shot down the road at running the team.
He should at least be the new bench coach. My guess is it’s up to him. Outside of a managerial job, fans will be irate should he go elsewhere.
I do worry about Varitek getting grabbed up by another team who sees him working his way into the manager’s position. I was hoping he would be the Sox manager by now, but Cora has remained in that position longer than I envisioned. I agree he needs to at least be offered the option to move up to bench coach unless he is content with what he is doing.
If the Cardinals were to sign Yadier as a coach it would certainly put a lot of pressure on Marmol. He would be a great resource for Oliver. I think Molina would be a great coach or manager. He saw the game develop in front of him his entire career.
Bring Tek to Cincy and reunite him with Francona. Reds just lost their 3rd base & catching coach.
I dont think varitek leaves Boston for less than a managerial opportunity. Just a lateral move within coaching assistants doesnt do it.
I’ve always thought Yadi could be a good manager some day but really think he could be a great pitching coach. Catchers usually are ala Dave Duncan who Yadi played under. Yadi could always tell when pitcher mechanics were off and give them pep talk when needed. Believe he would thrive in that job
This is an honest question and I’ve been following the Jason Varitek story the last few years.
But I ask, what qualifies Tek as major league manager? I really haven’t heard anything besides his loyalty to the team.
Do one of you inside guys know something about his acumen?
I see Yadi and Varitek in similar positions . Need to spend a few years as an assistant coach before becoming manager. I’m not familiar with Varitek, maybe he had. Yadi has not
Molina has been managing teams for a while now. He has manage the Puerto Rico team in the WBC and in the Caribbean Series.
Manny Ramirez as a hitting coach? The guy was one of the greatest, but translating that skill on the field, and that God-given eye and bat speed into a verbal suggestion and coaching and plate discipline is another thing.
I mean, how do you explain it when you’re an amazing hitter like he is?
“I just see the ball real well and when it’s thrown where I want it to be, I swing at it and usually make contact.”
It’s like Wade Boggs. Great hitter but how do you translate that eagle eye to a kid trying to make it and doesn’t have the eye?
I don’t know. I guess there’s a lot you can teach someone if you’ve done it already yourself, and that credibility counts for a lot.., so maybe give him a shot?
I always thought that the best coaches were those guys who weren’t all stars. Yes they were catchers, but they were also second basemen, which is often a position you put the least talented guy.
My reasoning for this is that the least talented guy has taken every little inch and smidge of coaching and taken it to heart.
He never makes a mistake, his plate discipline is amazing. His fundamentals are spot on. He knows where to be, and when to be there on the field.
He wasn’t the greatest athlete who can get away without these fundamentals because their athleticism can often make up for it.
The best coach is that guy who wasn’t that great but because he applied these coachable skills, these learned skills, a guy like him makes the best coach.
I hope this makes sense.
I TRULY believe Varitek should throw his hat into the ring as a managerial candidate. The record for former catchers ascending to a skipper’s position has a really stunning record of success: Berra, Torre, Scoscia, and, current day, Kevin Cash (Rays), Dan Wilson (Mariners), and Stephen Vogt (Guardians)
Catchers are already like Assistant Assistant Coaches while they are playing, so they have an inside track on becoming a manager when they retire.
Varitek should continue his mentorship under Cora. I think one of Coras greatest strengths is being able to talk to the Spanish speaking players in there own language. It allows for a connection that would not be able to happen if you need a translator. Is it a must, certainly not,but I feel it’s important.
I probably need to disagree about the importance at that level. Unfortunately, if thats Coras strength he’s in the wrong role.
Multi-lingualism has more importance, to me at your instructional levels – pitching coach, hitting coach, etc, possibly as high up as your bench coach who is communicating what the manager wants done in different situations up and down the dugout as the manager keeps his eyes glued to the game.
Once you get to the manager level or above in an organization, your focus isn’t about teaching or explaining concepts in depth to players – and that’s where speaking another language pays its dividends. As a manager, you give instructuons to your bench coach about that sort of thing, its what they’re there for. And, big-picture, you communicate the organizational philosophy on hitting or pitching to your coaching staff and their assistants, where, again, they use their bilingual abilities to get your goals across.
Managers’ strengths should be knowing what levers to pull, alignments to use, manipulating batting orders, the strengths and weaknesses of opposing star hitter and pitchers. None of which need fluency in other languages. It’s not a valueless skill, but if its your strong point you’re better suited to a bench coach role.
GaSox – Well said! When I hear people praising Cora because he speaks Spanish and because he’s smooth with the media, I cringe.
There’s plenty of others on the coaching staff that can speak Spanish and make Latino players feel comfortable, it doesn’t have to be the media.
GSF
You make very astute points. I do believe it his one of his strengths. One he uses that benefits his connection to his players. When the ‘boss’ can talk,relate to you , I think it’s a plus that can only help. It may not be first and foremost but certainly a benefit.IMO.
CDC – FACT: Cora divided the team by convincing most of the Latino players to not show up for the 2019 White House visit.
Good managers bring the team together, not pull it apart.
When you favor one group because of their ethnicity/nationality, the rest of the team can become disgruntled … and rightfully so.
BTW – How you like Suarez now? 2 homers and 5 RBI last night, when’s the last time the Red Sox had a postseason performance like that??
Cdchi- you reminded me of an old story, dates back to one of my earliest jobs. I worked for an old southern boy who’d found his was to new.england, guy was a real character, he was around when Nascar was founded by the old bootleggers.
Anyways, he took me aside one day before he did part of his daily ritual – around lunchtime he’d head down to the loading dock around the side of the building, and drink a king or two of budweiser around lunch… or if it was raining, have it in his old truck.
Anyways, his story, amd what he felt real important to pass down to me was this, and.i cam still hear his accent when he was saying jt… “you’ve got to maintain a level. There’s a level between us, and them. And you’ve got to make sure to stay above it”
He was speaking between management and employees. It was a blunt, simplistic way of saying you’ve got to maintain a professional distance between the people who work for you, make sure they see you as the boss whose orders have to be obeyed, rather than as a friend, where they expect leeway,.take liberties… where they feel they can ease up on how hard they have to perform or that some goof ups/offs can slide.
Shortly after that i was transferred, promoted. So he probably saw.it coming. But, at the time, i was decades younger than most management, and, he must’ve seen a more casual working relationship developing because of that age-inspired familiarity/relaxation of formality.
And it took a few years after that for me to understand, to see where he was going with that and he was right. Of course it was a different time – we also had a WWII vet with liver cancer for a janitor. Mild mannered but always piss-drunk, you could smell it 5 feet away. Between the sickness, and dealing with the war, he just stayed drunk most of the time and.was the quietest mild mannered guy youd meet…. oh well.
That long story is just my way of saying, a manager shouldn’t be friends or get too close with the players. That’s how.you get beer and chicken and videogames during contests.
Cora has passed.over that line where he’s lost some of the grip over the clubhouse, a shown by his failure to hold guys accountable when their head clearly wasnt in the game and his response is oh well we just need to execute better.
GSF
Respect. You can have respect for your boss and be a friend. I’ve been a ” grunt” ,worker and a manager in my working career and I have been friends with all .. you do a good job because you want to..
Manny Ramirez has a reputation for being an unreliable employee. I can’t see any team thinking his upside as a hitter outweighs his downside as a reliable member of a staff.
Pass on Molina as an STL coach. Supposed to have spent time helping in the past and was paid to do that. Did absolutely nothing for the money. Always Molina first and STL second… never forget that when dealing with Molina. Only interested now as he wants a leg up on his goal of becoming Marmol’s replacement. Hard pass on Molina as STL manager… wrong personality. Stop the nostalgia train.
I can pretty much leave SF out for Tek. I would guess that wimp Posey got on the phone with Raffy asking what he thought bout Tek, n I can guarantee Raffy objected.