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Jason Varitek

Rosenthal On Abreu, Garland, Glavine, Sisco

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The latest from Ken Rosenthal…

  • The Mariners and Giants are interested in Bobby Abreu, if the price is right.  Yesterday Buster Olney suggested that Abreu is willing to take a one-year deal.  The A’s and Nationals have other targets, while the Mets, White Sox, and Braves are seen as long shots.
  • Rosenthal examines the nuances of Jon Garland’s December 7th decision to reject arbitration, saying that it wasn’t an obvious mistake at the time.
  • Tom Glavine’s agent Gregg Clifton did not attend yesterday’s meeting with Frank Wren; it was a health update and not a contract negotiation.  Rosenthal says Glavine figures to seek a Freddy Garcia-like deal.  The Braves need to save money to add an outfielder, with Nick Swisher atop their list.  The Yankees’ goal in moving Swisher or Xavier Nady would be to recoup prospects.
  • The Brewers are not interested in projects such as Kris Benson, Jason Jennings, Mark Redman, and Victor Zambrano.  They’re just lukewarm on Mark Mulder.  Benson is drawing interest from the Dodgers, Rangers, and Cardinals; one exec reviewed his audition as "so-so."
  • Rosenthal doesn’t seem to buy the idea that Jason Varitek and Scott Boras feared the Red Sox could cut him if he accepted arbitration, noting that Boras client Travis Lee was advised to accept years ago.
  • The Braves have reservations about re-signing Andruw Jones, who could be a Spring Training cut.
  • The A’s deal for Russ Springer will be worth more than $3MM plus incentives.  They’re also eyeing Brian Shouse and Andrew Sisco as possible pen additions.  Sisco, recovering from Tommy John, has also auditioned for the Rockies and Giants.

Jason Varitek Rumors: Tuesday

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7:24pm: Massarotti notes that the exact date of the deadline is still a bit fuzzy.  Either way, he writes that "it is possible that a resolution will be unknown until early Saturday."

5:13pm: CBSSports.com is reporting that Varitek has only until Friday to accept or decline either deal.

12:12pm: A source told Massarotti Varitek can choose between a one-year, $5MM deal or the deal with a dual option for 2010.

8:19am: A summary of what we learned recently: the Red Sox made an offer to Jason Varitek for $5MM in ’09 plus a $5MM club/$3MM player option for ’10.  The offer has a Saturday deadline attached, with Varitek and the team putting other options on hold until the situation plays out.

A new tidbit from Tony Massarotti: the offer was made near the end of last week.  Massarotti still contends that Varitek may prefer a straight one-year deal.

Jason Varitek Rumors: Monday

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11:26pm: According to Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald, the Red Sox have set a Saturday deadline for their offer to Varitek.  Silverman does not expect the Sox to sweeten their offer.  He adds that Varitek "is believed to have instructed his agent not to discuss monetary terms with any other teams during the entire free agent process."  For their part, the Red Sox will wait on Varitek before pursuing a trade for a catcher.

5:55pm: Rob Neyer of ESPN.com believes the Red Sox will get what they want no matter what: A cheap Varitek or no Varitek at all.

12:24pm: Tony Massarotti confirms Bradford’s numbers on Boston’s offer.  The incentives are based on awards rather than health or playing time.  Massarotti suggests Varitek could prefer to eliminate the ’10 option.

9:26am: Yesterday, WEEI’s Rob Bradford wrote that the Red Sox made this offer to Jason Varitek: $5MM for ’09, with a $5MM club/$3MM player option for ’10.  The offer has a deadline attached.

The Boston Herald’s Michael Silverman writes today that the one-year plus an option offer to Varitek is worth between $3-5MM.  He believes the Red Sox are "unwilling to wait much longer" and unwilling to budge much.

Jon Heyman wrote on Thursday:

It’s still a mystery to many why Varitek didn’t take arbitration. And even Red Sox owner John Henry asked Varitek in their well-publicized meeting a week ago why he didn’t take the arbitration offer. The reason is that Varitek didn’t believe that accepting arbitration would guarantee him a spot on the team.

Buster Olney called this notion "laughable" in today’s blog, labeling it as a Scott Boras talking point to cover for a poor decision.  Peter Gammons agrees.

Red Sox To Be Done After Solving Catcher?

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Daniel Barbarisi weighs in on the Red Sox, saying that following whatever their solution to the hole at catcher is (Barbarisi figures it to be Jason Varitek), they should call it quits for the offseason.

Barbarisi notes that one potential bargain could be Orlando Cabrera, but points out that Cabrera’s projections for 2009 don’t figure to be any better than Jed Lowrie’s.

He also points out that while Ben Sheets is the exact type of low-risk/high-reward player the Red Sox like to gamble on, they’ve signed enough of those already this offseason.

What does everyone else think? Do the Red Sox need another piece?

Red Sox And Varitek Getting Closer?

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According to Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe, the Red Sox have made a formal proposal to Jason Varitek that could satisfy both sides.

Though the exact terms of the offer are unclear, Massarotti reports that a baseball source said that the offer could include a second year for the 36-year-old catcher. Varitek rejected the Red Sox arbitration offer in December that could have been worth $10-12MM in 2009.

With pitchers and catchers scheduled to report to spring training in less than three weeks, it would be ideal for both sides to reach an agreement sooner rather than later.

Odds And Ends: Varitek, Pedro, Sheets

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Links for Saturday morning…

  • Pedro Martinez isn’t worried that he hasn’t signed yet.
  • Jason Varitek says he’s still "exchanging offers" with the Red Sox. Scott Boras and Theo Epstein didn’t comment on the talks, which continue slowly.
  • Buster Olney takes a look at the market for Ben Sheets. He says whoever signs Sheets will get a bargain. Some GMs would be impressed if he gets $20MM over two years.
  • Nate McLouth isn’t optimistic about his chances of signing a multi-year deal with the Pirates.
  • Peter Schmuck thinks the O’s should find a way to sign Brian Roberts to a long term contract.
  • The Blue Jays fired assistant GM Bart Given.
  • Gordon Wittenmyer breaks down the Cubs’ chances of acquiring Jake Peavy now that the team’s about to change hands.
  • Richard Justice writes Randy Wolf should have accepted the Astros’ offer.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Pirates, Rays, Pettitte, Cubs, Dodgers, Gomes, Mauer, Cruz

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On this date 28 years ago, the Red Sox traded Fred Lynn to the California Angels for Frank Tanana and Joe Rudi. After six seasons that included an MVP and six all-star appearances, the Red Sox were forced to trade Lynn when the front office failed to mail a new contract to Lynn by the mandated deadline. Without the new contract, Boston was faced with the possibility that Lynn would be declared a free agent (Carlton Fisk was declared a free agent for the same reason). The player’s association dropped their case when Lynn agreed to a contract extension with the Angels. With many of this year’s free agent class still waiting for contracts to be mailed, let’s take a look at what is being written in the Blogosphere…

  • Bucco Blog sees an Adam LaRoche-Jonathan Sanchez trade as a "win-win deal."
  • DRays Bay would like to see the Tigers take either Troy Percival or Dan Wheeler off the Rays’ hands.
  • Mets Geek makes a case for the Mets signing Andy Pettitte.
  • Goat Riders of the Apocalypse are not worried that the Cubs have traded away yet another former top prospect.
  • Center Field isn’t buying that Jason Varitek didn’t know about the draft pick compensation as a result of his refusing arbitration.
  • Her Rays isn’t taking the loss of Rocco Baldelli well at all.
  • Dodger Thoughts doesn’t understand why the Dodgers keep spending money on veteran, offensively-challenged backup catchers that will never play.
  • Anaheim Angels all the way says the Reds replaced "90% of Adam Dunn" with Jonny Gomes and a very favorable contract. On Baseball and the Reds is not sure Gomes’ offense will offset his horrible defense and sees him as a decent platoon option.
  • UmpBump grades the Rays offseason favorably.
  • El Lefty Malo laments the contract of Dave Roberts and feels he is the type of player that would be forced to retire if he were a free agent this off-season.
  • Twins Geek speculates on what it would take to sign Joe Mauer to a long-term deal.
  • Bullpen Call sees only the Mets and Yankees as options for Juan Cruz.

Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com. If you have a suggestion for this feature, Cork can be reached here.

Odds And Ends: Varitek, Markakis, Johnson

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Links for Thursday night…

  • Curt Schilling thinks the Red Sox need Jason Varitek.
  • Buster Olney writes that some executives think Type A free agents like Varitek, Orlando Cabrera and Juan Cruz should sign soon instead of waiting until the season starts.
  • Ken Rosenthal proposes a ’Juan Cruz rule’ so that players like Cruz aren’t the ones hurt by the compensation system.
  • Andy MacPhail provides some of the reasons he wanted to lock up Nick Markakis. He has plenty of good ones to choose from.
  • Chico Harlan of the Washington Post spoke with Nick Johnson, who "expressed no particular desire" to play in his home state of California.
  • Kobe Bryant jokingly suggested that he could play left for the Dodgers instead of Manny Ramirez.

Heyman On Manny, Varitek, Madson, Swisher

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SI.com’s Jon Heyman has a new column up…

  • Heyman says half the teams in baseball may still have a big deal left in them, with roughly 100 free agents remaining.
  • Manny Ramirez continues to wait patiently; Heyman guesses the Dodgers go to three years for him.  They’d be bidding against themselves, unless Manny has an offer we don’t know about.
  • When John Henry asked Jason Varitek why he didn’t accept their offer of arbitration, Varitek responded that he didn’t believe it would’ve guaranteed him a spot on the team.
  • Heyman finds it odd that first-year arb closers are getting more money than starters.
  • Scott Boras was in favor of Ryan Madson taking the Phillies’ three-year, $12MM offer based on Madson’s personal/familial circumstances.
  • The Yankees are finding more interest in Nick Swisher than Xavier Nady.
  • Heyman has the Ricketts family as the favorite to buy the Cubs.
  • Heyman suggests Bobby Abreu’s defense gets a bad rap.  The plus/minus system, however, says the right fielder is among the worst in the game.
  • The Nationals and Marlins share the Rays’ policy of not negotiating once arbitration figures are submitted.  The Nats are apparently willing to bend and may keep talking with Scott Olsen and Josh Willingham (each about a million bucks apart).
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