Long-time Red Sox backstop Jason Varitek will once again be crouching behind the plate in Fenway Park this season, as he's finally re-upped with the only team he's ever known. Varitek had declined the Red Sox arbitration offer earlier this offseason, but he had seen very little interest from any other team.
About a week ago, the Red Sox set a January 30 deadline for a contract to be signed. Generally, Varitek's agent, Scott Boras, isn't one to cave like this, so the writing must have been on the wall.
It's beginning to look more and more like Jason Varitek will be back with the Red Sox. Oh, don't get me wrong, there's been no actual progress in their continued negotiations, but the fact that they're still at the table suggests both sides are serious about making his return to Boston happen.
Let's be frank: For all of his past accomplishments, Varitek currently has zero leverage, not after making the enormous mistake of declining arbitration, which would have resulted in a one-year, eight-figure contract. The Red Sox could easily put a "take it or leave it" offer on the table and wait for Spring Training. Instead, they're maintaining a dialogue, a show of respect to a player that's been their team captain the last four years.
The Red Sox have been among the most active teams in free agency since the calendar turned to 2009, inking the likes of Takashi Saito, John Smoltz, Brad Penny, Rocco Baldelli and Mark Kotsay to deals in the new year. Those are good signings for an organization as deep as the Red Sox, but a major hole at catcher remains on the big league roster.
Boston has already signed Josh Bard to a non-guaranteed deal this winter, but unless it is willing to hand a significant portion of the catching duties to an untested backstop like Dusty Brown or George Kottaras, it is going to need another catcher.
Longtime backstop and team captain Jason Varitek is still a free agent, but, at least for now, the Red Sox seemed resolved to pursue other options in an effort to get younger behind the dish.
As former President Andrew Johnson reported earlier this week, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are not, in fact, the same team. I've never thought of them as an autonomous unit, but rather a set of bookends. Between them lies history, science, geography.. all of the important stuff, everything you need to know. Everything outside of them is just crap on your shelves.
As Andrew pointed out, the teams are run very differently. The Yankees have unzipped their, uh, coin purse and put their dense, cylindrical wrapped coins on the table, scooping up the available big names in a grand fashion that leaves nothing but a cloud of smoke and gold-laced footprints in the faces of the competition.
The Sox have responded by holding up a picture of Dustin Pedroia and trying to find every free agent who looks remotely like him. It's been a running gag in our strip for a while now, but the Red Sox need to sign Delmon and Dmitri Young to keep me from going snowblind next season.
It's easy to group the Red Sox and the Yankees together. Heck, during the Rays' amazing run last summer the two ancient rivals almost became one word. ('Can the upstart Rays really hold off the YankeesandRedSox?'). And the rush to mash them into one Northeast superpower makes sense, at least on the surface.
Rabid fanbases that are more alike than they would like to admit. Century-old tradition. Deep coffers. Expectations of success that would seem ridiculous anywhere else. There's no doubt the franchises have plenty in common.
Of course, the Red Sox are still big spenders. They were something like $12 million short in the Teixeira sweepstakes, depending on who you believe, and they've given out a few whoppers over the years like the Daisuke Matsuzaka ($103 million between the posting fee and his contract) and J.D. Drew ($70 million) deals.
The original title of this Dugout was "JOSH BARD TO RED SOX," because I want the skimming people to read it, too. In case you're skimming this too, Boston has reportedly reached an agreement with catcher Josh Bard for $1.7 million. Yes, if you can somehow make it to the Major Leagues with the ability to hit .200 you too can be a millionaire. They will pay you almost two million dollars to sit in the minors and suck the ass of baseball. I guess everybody else there is a millionaire and they don't want you to feel bad.
For a greater hit-count, please enjoy tonight's Dugout, a straight-forward affair about... oh you aren't falling for this anymore, it is as crooked-forward as I could make it. Please continue via the jump.
The minute Mark Teixeira signed on the dotted line with the Yankees, Boston's top offseason priority shifted from bolstering the middle of their order to finding a starting catcher. Teixeira was a unique commodity on the free agent market, but the Red Sox don't need a corner bat like they need a steady catcher.
Incumbent Jason Varitek is a free agent, and despite possible acrimony over the way agent Scott Boras handled the Teixeira sweepstakes, Boston is continuing to talk to him about a potential return, according to the Boston Globe. There has been very little interest in Varitek, the catching market -- whether in trade or free agency -- is weak and for the sake of continuity it may make sense for both sides to reunite.
On the other hand, the Red Sox seem to be sending out signals that they'll go in a different direction. The team is close to a non-guaranteed deal with Josh Bard. He had a short, unsuccessful stint in Boston in 2006 and an abysmal season last year, hitting .202 in 57 games. But he also posted the highest line drive rate of his career in 2008, and also the second lowest batting average on balls in play, suggesting he's a good bounceback candidate.
Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2009.
After clinging to contender-ship for the past few years, it seems as though last season was a wake-up call to San Diego Padres GM Kevin Towers. Trevor Hoffman will not be the closer this year, Khalil Greene is likely to be traded, and Jake Peavy is definitely going to be traded. Let's examine what triggered this.
The Padres can't hit, and they are not in position to develop an offense any time soon. They had been able to survive with little offense the previous three seasons because their pitching and defense -- teamed with their home-field advantage in spacious Petco Park -- was able to churn out those 3-2 and 2-1 victories enough times to stay competitive. That all went by the wayside in 2008, as significant time was missed by Peavy and Chris Young atop the rotation (they made only 45 combined starts after making 64 in 2007) and the rest of the starters were shaky all season. In turn, the team ERA ballooned from 3.70 to 4.41.
With the trade deadline right around the corner, our MLB editor brings you the top five rumors every day until July 31.
- The Marlins are the forgotten team in the NL East race, but they have a very real chance at making the postseason and are the most active team less than 24 hours before the trade deadline. Florida is looking for everything. The club is believed to be close to dealing for Mariners left-handed reliever Arthur Rhodes. The Fish have also made inquiries with San Diego about Josh Bardand Toronto about Gregg Zaun as they try to shore up the catcher position with Matt Treanor injured.
Most surprisingly, they might be at the head of the pack for Boston slugger Manny Ramirez. A proposed deal would send either left fielder Josh Willingham or right fielder Jeremy Hermida to the Red Sox in exchange for Ramirez, with Boston picking up the remaining portion of the $20 million owed to the disgruntled slugger. The Marlins would also have to agree not to pick up Ramirez's option at the end of the season. Florida is often accused of being cheap. You can't say it isn't trying this year.
- The Jason Bay market appears to be heating up. Both the Rays and Cardinals have had serious discussions with Pittsburgh about acquiring the left fielder. Tampa Bay would seem to have the upper hand since it has the better farm system and does not play in the same division as the Pirates. GM Neal Huntington is believed to have asked for shortstop prospect Reid Brignac and pitching prospect Jeremy Hellickson, with Hellickson believed to be the sticking point. There is also late word that the Red Sox could jump into the Bay talks as part of a three-way deal that would send Ramirez to Florida, prospects to Pittsburgh and Bay to Boston.
'He will be up here,' Towers said Thursday. 'I hate to set a timetable, but he is going to be up very shortly.'
Towers again said the decision is unrelated to money.
'First and foremost,' Towers said, 'we felt that before we wanted to put Chase in a big league environment, we wanted to get him as much time as possible in the outfield, playing under the lights and in different venues, so he's not worried about his defense when he comes up.'
See, it does not really bother me that the Padres are waiting longer to call him up because they want to save money. It is a business decision and Headley -- unlike Longoria in Tampa Bay -- will not increase their chances of winning (because those chances are roughly one percent and even that feels generous).
After June 1, San Diego will tack on an extra year until Headley is available for arbitration. So why not just say that? I know, it sounds ridiculous, this notion of "honesty", but we all know what is happening here. Especially when you call up four other minor leaguers (to replace Chris Young and Josh Bard) but not your best one.
Long-time Red Sox backstop Jason Varitek will once again be crouching behind the plate in Fenway Park this season, as he's finally re-upped with the only team he's ever known. Varitek had declined the Red Sox arbitration offer earlier this offseason, but he had seen very little interest from any other team. 
It's beginning to look more and more like 
The Red Sox have been among the most active teams in free agency since the calendar turned to 2009, inking the likes of 
As former President 
It's easy to group the Red Sox and the Yankees together. Heck, during the Rays' amazing run last summer the two ancient rivals almost became one word. ('Can the upstart Rays really hold off the YankeesandRedSox?'). And the rush to mash them into one Northeast superpower makes sense, at least on the surface.
The original title of this Dugout was "JOSH BARD TO RED SOX," because I want the skimming people to read it, too. In case you're skimming this too, Boston has reportedly reached an agreement with catcher 
The minute 
With the trade deadline right around the corner, our MLB editor brings you the top five rumors every day until July 31.
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