Sox on verge of wasting (I mean signing) Tek to a 2 year deal.

[SShorefan 3.0]

Very good deal for both sides but I would like this deal even more if they had a young stud of a catching prospect behind Tek so that he could see Tek's preparation and style of handling pitchers and emulate it.

I still think the Sox deal for a catcher, but sometime mid season.

[Donoghus]

Very good deal for both sides but I would like this deal even more if they had a young stud of a catching prospect behind Tek so that he could see Tek's preparation and style of handling pitchers and emulate it.

I still think the Sox deal for a catcher, but sometime mid season.

Sox have a pretty competent backup in Bard right now. 

Mauer's contract is up at the end of the 2010 season and there is already speculation about him being moved before his contract has expired or just walking after 2010.

My gut tells me that the Sox are going to be major players in whatever goes down with Mauer. 

[winsomme]

i look at Tek much the same way i looked at Posey....

which is worse: overpaying by a few mil or risking an important piece to a championship squad?

if the Sox had not brought Tek back over a couple of mil and they missed the playoffs....ugh, bad news..

glad it looks like he is coming back.

[Toine43]

Very good deal for both sides but I would like this deal even more if they had a young stud of a catching prospect behind Tek so that he could see Tek's preparation and style of handling pitchers and emulate it.

I still think the Sox deal for a catcher, but sometime mid season.

Sox have a pretty competent backup in Bard right now. 

Mauer's contract is up at the end of the 2010 season and there is already speculation about him being moved before his contract has expired or just walking after 2010.

My gut tells me that the Sox are going to be major players in whatever goes down with Mauer. 

To me, Boston not going after a young catcher via trade was a sign that they were going to be a player in the Mauer sweepstakes. Otherwise, I really don't see why they wouldn't have gone after a young catcher. I know Theo gets attached to his prospects and all, but the Red Sox have so many young pitching prospects. There have to be a couple prospects that Theo views as expendable, and it seemed like a trade to Texas would have been the perfect destination for them, with their surplus of young catchers.

The Red Sox have clearly been scrambling to find something in the catching department in their own system. Last year, I know that they drafted quite a few in the early rounds. A couple of pitching prospects that you're likely not going to need anyway (I know, you can never have enough pitching  ) seem like a small price to pay for a potential catcher of future with legitimate promise, unlike Kotteras and Brown.

[Jon]

i look at Tek much the same way i looked at Posey....

which is worse: overpaying by a few mil or risking an important piece to a championship squad?

if the Sox had not brought Tek back over a couple of mil and they missed the playoffs....ugh, bad news..

glad it looks like he is coming back.

I wouldn't exactly say they're the same.  The catcher position in baseball is kind of like center and point guard in the NBA: it's hard to fill.  I think that bears mentioning when looking at the dollars.  Furthermore, like the center position, it's often harder to get big time offensive production guys there.  Thus, while Varitek's numbers were poor last year, was the average catcher hitting .250 really that much better?  That doesn't really apply to Posey, who played the 2/3. 

Furthermore, the Sox, unlike the C's, don't have a salary cap to worry about.  Even if this signing is bad (and I don't think it is), they can still go out and spend big next year if they want. 

Finally, in general, I like this deal.  It pained me to watch Tek bat last year.  Despite that, I don't think he can truly quantify what he does for a pitching staff.  You look at his .220 average last year.  That's 93 hits in 423 ABs.  A .250 average wouldn've been 106 hits in as many at bats, a measly 13 hits over the course of 131 games played, or 1 less hit every 10 games.  I think he makes up for that 1 hit every 10 games with what he does with the pitchers on a daily basis.  Furthermore, in a game of inches (and to an extent luck) like  baseball, how much of a .250 vs. a .220 BA is talent and how much of it as luck?  While I'll grant you that baseball players can sometimes control what part of the park they hit the ball too, they certainly can't control the difference between a groundball hit 3 feet to the right of the shortstop vs. 5 feet to the right of the shortstop. 

Overall, I think this is a good deal.  They didn't have anyone in the organization ready, so they would have had to overpay with prospects for someone who wasn't necessarily going to be great anyway.  Now they have a year or two to figure out what to do with the future.  And if Papi and Lowell bounce back, Varitek's offensive woes shouldn't hurt as badly as last year. 

[Chris]

i look at Tek much the same way i looked at Posey....

which is worse: overpaying by a few mil or risking an important piece to a championship squad?

if the Sox had not brought Tek back over a couple of mil and they missed the playoffs....ugh, bad news..

glad it looks like he is coming back.

I understand your thinking, although I think the difference is of course the salary cap.  The Red Sox didn't have to worry about salary cap implications like the C's did.  So the chances of signing Varitek effecting them negatively down the line, if he doesn't earn his money are much lower than signing Posey would have been.

[kenmaine]

i look at Tek much the same way i looked at Posey....

which is worse: overpaying by a few mil or risking an important piece to a championship squad?

if the Sox had not brought Tek back over a couple of mil and they missed the playoffs....ugh, bad news..

glad it looks like he is coming back.

Can't agree with you. Posey is in his prime, Varitek is way past his. One guy can help, the other probably not. But it's not a bad deal. If he really sucks, Francona doesn't have to play him.

[Roy Hobbs]

I think Varitek will bounce back a little bit.  $8 million guaranteed over two years is a pretty good deal for a guy who is still a good defensive catcher, has the full confidence of the pitching staff, and is a key member of the locker room (being the captain).

[winsomme]

i look at Tek much the same way i looked at Posey....

which is worse: overpaying by a few mil or risking an important piece to a championship squad?

if the Sox had not brought Tek back over a couple of mil and they missed the playoffs....ugh, bad news..

glad it looks like he is coming back.

Can't agree with you. Posey is in his prime, Varitek is way past his. One guy can help, the other probably not. But it's not a bad deal. If he really sucks, Francona doesn't have to play him.

i guess it depends on how people view the importance of a catcher's relationship with the pitching staff and his ability to call a game.

some people think that a catcher's ability to call a game is overrated.

personally, i think it's a big deal. maybe not as much with a guy like Schill, but with the staff we have, bringing in a new guy for this season would seem like a disaster to me...

[Cman]

Glad to have Varitek back and the deal seems entirely reasonable to me.

[Brickowski]

They would have been better off going after Pudge for less money.  Pudge can't hit anymore, but he can still throw.  Varitek can do neither.

[nickagneta]

They would have been better off going after Pudge for less money.  Pudge can't hit anymore, but he can still throw.  Varitek can do neither.

You do know that the reason Pudge Rodriguez has great throwing stats and looks to have such a great arm is because the only pitch he ever calls to be thrown when runners are on base is a fastball, mostly away and a little up. The guy is an egomaniac who thinks his throwing out baserunners stats are more important than pitching wisely to a batter with men on base.

This has been a widely known fact around baseball since even before his Gold Gloves, that he won based on his caught stealing percentage. There's a reason Texas' pitchers ERA's were always so high, even when they brought in some pitching. Pudge doesn't have a clue how to handle a pitching staff or call a decent game. He's awful at it. Really, for a catcher, he's pretty stupid in his approach to the game.

[Brickowski]

Pudge has a great arm, period. And I wouldn't blame bad Ranger ERA's entirely on him.  It was a bad staff, and that park has an infield that turns to concrete by mid July.

The point is that Varitek is finished.  Yankee fans are gloating at the prospect of him catching 120 games.

[Evantime34]

Pudge has a great arm, period. And I wouldn't blame bad Ranger ERA's entirely on him.  It was a bad staff, and that park has an infield that turns to concrete by mid July.

The point is that Varitek is finished.  Yankee fans are gloating at the prospect of him catching 120 games.

He's not going to catch that many games. I think this year will be more of a platoon. Tek is great at hitting rhp but not as good hitting lefties. If he is only in the games to do that we are good.
I think this is a great move if we go get a good young catcher like Salty Tek is perfect to groom the new catcher. If we don't trade for anyone then maybe he could mentor Kotteras (sp?).

[Brickowski]

If they had a good young catcher they wouldn't need Varitek at all. That's the problem: they don't.

With Manny they could afford a catcher who hits .220.  Without Manny they can't.