TwitterVaritek and Tazawa
24 Nov 2008
WEEI – 850 AM in Boston has redone their website and now has blogs covering the local sports teams. On one of those blogs, Rob Bradford, formerly of the Boston Herald, reports that the Red Sox have made an initial offer to Jason Varitek for 1 year at an undisclosed amount of money.
Bradford does not mention when this offer was made.
Of course if this is true it could mean any number of things. 1.) Perhaps there is no market for JV if the Red Sox think this is a good starting point. 2.) If Scott Boras really thinks JV deserves Jorge Posada type money (heck, Posada doesn’t deserve Posada type money), then it is clear Varitek won’t be re-signing with Boston. The possibilities go on.
Another piece of news from MLBTradeRumors.com has links to reports tat the Red Sox winning the bidding war for Japanese pitcher Junichi Tazawa. MLBTR also reports on the Varitek story. I haven’t a clue if Tazawa is/will be worth the attention.
Nov 25, 2008 @ 22:04:14
Tek had a tuly dreadful year at the plate for you guys, Andy. He’s also not getting any younger – be a neat trick if he were though.
Boras’ smoke blowing aside, Tek is going to have a problem getting any sort of serious money or other terms after the year he just had.
Posada? His bat is still there and probably more valuable than his knees. The arm/shoulder? My guess is that he’ll be stronger than 2 or even 3 years ago, at least for this season. That sort of surgery has a hi prob of success and full recovery. Time will tell though.
Nov 25, 2008 @ 22:24:35
Mitchell, Varitek sure did have a lousy year.
No matter how good a job he does handling the pitching staff, it is his batting stats that will standout. Batting stats are quantifiable whereas “handling the staff” is vague at best.
I would not be surprised to see him sign a 1 year deal with the idea of trying to “prove” himself to all.
Nov 25, 2008 @ 22:54:46
I bet it gets done with 2 years, $16m
Nov 26, 2008 @ 07:35:45
that was me, will have to sign my posts now, lol
bl
Nov 26, 2008 @ 15:18:11
BL? The typekey “thing” seems to be fixed, at least for me. You might want to try and accept cookies from the typekey/typepad site as well as this one to see if that works for you.
And about Tek? Guy is smart and calls a good game and manages the staff real well, but Theo has to see those hitting numbers and be thinking about getting younger behind the plate. Age (like fog and crap) happens.
Nov 26, 2008 @ 17:03:55
yeah but for 2 years and a chance to groom someone, that is a win win situation.
Nov 26, 2008 @ 21:55:58
Mitchell, I like the fog/crap reference. You must be a boater.
Varitek, to me, would be nice to have back, but it has to make sense to Boston and cannot be anything close to Boras’s demands.
Boston does need to get younger. I think an ideal situation is 2 years for V-tek and a trade for a younger catcher (i.e. with Texas) so the position is ok in coming years. I am not thrilled with what’s in Pawtucket right now for catching help.
I sure hope I eat my words in a year or two.