Rightful Place

I'd like to take a break from all of this basketball nonsense for a moment and address an issue that has been eating at me since this past fall and desperately needs a resolution in the near future.  As many of you out there know, Spring Training is less than a month away, and for the first time in more than a decade, it seems as though the Boston Red Sox may be facing a new season without their captain, Jason Varitek.  This is just wrong, and although he'll be 37 in April and his offensive production has dipped dramatically in recent years, the Red Sox still need number 33 behind the plate come April.  Anything else would be a travesty, plain and simple.

Why do the Sox need Varitek?  Despite his offensive numbers, Vartek is still valuable to the Red Sox because of the leadership in the clubhouse and on the field that he brings to the table.  If there's a harder working catcher who has a greater impact on his pitching staff in terms of maximizing potential out there, I'll eat my shorts and write a gushing 1,500 word column about how Derek Jeter is the greatest shortstop to ever play the game.  But don't bother looking anywhere else, because that guy doesn't exist, at least not in today's game (you know it's true, otherwise I wouldn't have made such a ridiculous offer, right?).

Having Jason Varitek behind the plate calling a game is like having a pitching coach and a manager wrapped up into one on the field of play to direct traffic.  Not only does Varitek put in the prep work before the game to know his opponents tendencies at the plate, he also makes adjustments on the fly as well as anyone I've ever seen play the game of baseball at such a high level.  Because of his endless preparation with his pitchers and coaches, Varitek always seems to be prepared for any scenario and has made a habit of putting his pitchers in the best position possible to maximize their own potential.  It's no mistake that Varitek has caught a Major League Baseball record four no hitters in his career, his preparation, work ethic and confidence in his teammates is infectious and has consistently brought out the best in the players he works with.

Speaking of those no hitters, let's take a closer look for a second.  First of all, it should be noted that there have been only 250 some odd no hitters ever in baseball since the 1800s, so being involved in one is rare enough.  But Jason Varitek has caught four, starting in 2001 with Hideo Nomo, followed by Derek Lowe in 2002, Clay Buchholz in 2007, and most recently Jon Lester in 2008.  None of those guys are slouches by any measure, however they aren't the most elite pitchers of their era yet either (can't pass judgement on Buchholz or Lester especially as of yet).  And yet, all of these guys have done what some astonishingly elite names such as Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling (who came within one strike of a perfect game with Varitek behind the plate in 2007), Pedro Martinez have never been able to do in some the most illustrious and impressive pitching careers that Major League baseball has ever seen.  With Varitek behind the plate and calling the game, good pitchers become great, and great pitchers can become legendary.  This is not to say that the Red Sox Captain deserves all the credit for his pitchers' success, but it is undeniable that he has a huge impact on the game and the way his pitchers perform.

Varitek has also caught more than 1,000 games in his career for the Red Sox, putting him at the top of the club's all time list ahead of Carlton Fisk (a hall of fame catcher who was the heart and soul of his team that the Red Sox let walk away too soon, mind you).  The Captain has given everything he's had and then some to his team and the city of Boston, suffering through the bad years with us before playing a huge roll in the magical 2004 postseason that brought the Red Sox their first World Series championship in 86 years.  If Varitek were to go, not only would it be his first season in the Major Leagues not in a Red Sox uniform, but then David Ortiz would be almost the only piece left over from the greatest team in Red Sox history.  It seems to me to be so simple, so why haven't both sides agreed to terms on a new deal yet? 

There hasn't been a new deal yet because Jason Varitek is represented by Satan Scott Boras, who is determined to maximize his own profit and extract every last dollar for his client that he possibly can.  Although Boras claims the market value for Varitek should be similar to that of Jorge Posada (who signed a 4-year $52 million extension last year at varitek's age), the interest hasn't been there from other teams and the Red Sox have decided to leave their Captain hanging in purgatory, simply because his agent has been a thorn in the side of the organization for years.  But two wrongs do not make a right, and in this situation, the innocent bystanders (Varitek and Red Sox fans) bear the brunt of the harm for this standoff.

In a oerfect world, both sides would swallow some pride and approach the bargaining table once again and hammer out a mutually beneficial deal quickly and quietly before this situation gets extremely messy.  For Varitek, that means accepting the fact that while he's the same age as Posada and equally if not more valuable to his team, Posada earned his extension by having a career year at the plate (Varitek certainly did not) and has not lived up to the investment that the Yankees made in him since.  Also, Varitek and Boras especially need to realize that the Yankees are not an accurate barometer for assessing market value for baseball players, and that the boneheaded, overpriced deals they give to their players does not mean that everyone else has to follow suit.  On the other hand, the Red Sox need to realize that Varitek is still quite valuable to his team now and could be for years to come, so making another investment in his, although risky can and will pay off in the future.  The team's ownership also needs to wake up and realize that they can spend some money on a less than stellar investment in a special case such as this, and treating Varitek in this way doesn't look good to the fans or the media.  Punishing Varitek as a means to humiliate him and his agent is not good policy, no matter how good it feels to stick it to them both in a situation where Boras has been rendered essentially powerless by the collapsing free agent market.

What I think they should do is this: work out a one or two year deal with options, incentives and performance bonuses that will keep Varitek's salary comparable to his current pay scale and assuage most of his demands, no matter how unrealistic they are.  The red Sox can tell Varitek that he is still the Captain, and that he'll be their catcher as long as he's able to do it, and that the team desperately needs him to help teach his eventual replacements how to live up to the lofty standards that he's established here over the years.  After he's done playing, why not bring him in as a coach?  I can imagine many capacities that not only have dignifying titles and responsibilities, but would put Varitek's immense talents to good use.  This way he'd be assured of playing time, long term financial security and that the team still needs him badly.  On the other side, the Red Sox would hopefully get a few more solid seasons out of Varitek while developing some younger prospects, and then they could keep him on to help the team in any number of ways.  

If that didn't work, I'd take Varitek down to Fenway Park and face him towards right field (you know, the area of the field where he used to hit home runs) and show him the retired numbers that are proudly on display commemorating an elite class of Red Sox legends and put his number 33 up there next to Fisk's 27 and Jackie Robinson's 42.  If Varitek finishes his career in Boston, that is certainly what should and would happen upon his retirement and election to the Hall of Fame (will happen, no doubt).  Why try and extract more money out of an organization that's already made you filthy rich when you could be enshrined in an elite pantheon of baseball and be mentioned in the same breath as Cronin, Fisk, Pesky, Yaz and WIllaims?  Varitek is already a huge celebrity to the people of New England, but if he chooses to go out with dignity and class, he'll be a god to every kid with a baseball glove from Bar Harbor to Providence.  

This kind of thing worked the last time that Varitek was on the market (when he became The Captain), and I believe that it can and will work again.  Because there isn't a huge market for 37 year-old catchers that bat .220, I believe that the Red Sox will eventually bring him back into the fold.  All I hope is that they do so soon enough to prevent a rift from forming between the player and the organization.  There have been rumors that Varitek met privately with owner John Henry and without Boras or the rest of the Red Sox brain trust, which leads me to believe that a resolution is coming soon and that the deciding factor in the deal ultimately will not be the dollar signs.  But every day that Varitek goes unsigned is another push towards an era of darkness that could have the effect of driving a wedge between the organization and its players as well as the fan base.  We all want to see Varitek back in a Red Sox uniform, anything else would feel as wrong as kissing your sister or rooting for the Yankees.