Countdown
The countdown starts. Sure I could be talking about pitchers and catchers reporting, but I'm really talking about Jason Varitek.
Reports are out that the Red Sox have offered Varitek a 1-year deal with a guarantee base and incentives and a 2nd year option. Varitek has been given a deadline to accept the offer.
Per WEEI, the offer is a 1-year, $5mm deal with a team option for a 2nd year at $5mm or a player option at $3mm. The incentive portion of the deal is not known at this time (nor is any of the above necessarily, just reporting on published reporting...).
WEEI also pulled quotes from ESPN's Buster Olney who wrote over the weekend that Varitek is asking for $10-$12mm annually over 2 years.
Wow. If Varitek thinks he is going to get anything close to that, he's nuts. I cannot imagine that is really what he is looking for and must have come to the conclusion that if he wants to play for the Red Sox, or any other MLB team, he is going to get a big hair cut in 2009.
Jorge Posada signed one of the most absurd deals prior to the 2008 season. There is no way to argue that it was a good deal, especially since year one is in the books and Posada could only provide 168 at bats. Varitek must have seen that deal and thought he was worth something close to that.
But times have changed. Mix in the fact that Varitek had a bad year with the bat in 2008, the economy is in the pits and teams are spending accordingly (most anyway) and the biggest fact that most teams have always known is that catchers don't age well. Carlton Fisk was a freak of nature, but he is not the norm by any means. These factors essentially mean Varitek can take whatever the Red Sox offer, walk away and sign with someone else, or...retire.
I hope he signs. I think he is a good person to have teach the other catchers in the organization. But if the Red Sox do manage to re-sign him, I hope they also trade for a better future option at catcher than they presently have in their system. What good is Varitek working with Josh Bard? None. Varitek needs to work with his eventual replacement.
