THE CAPTAIN IS STAYING!!!!
Jason Varitek realized that if he can't get $10 million a year, he might as well stay for a potential World Series contender where he has played his whole big league career, is worshipped as a hero by the fans, is the captain in the clubhouse and won't have to learn a whole new pitching staff... and still earn millions of dollars a year in the worst economy since the Depression.
(Hey Boras, nice job having him reject arbitration.)
So now that Varitek is back in a Red Sox uniform, let's do what we can to adopt a new nickname for Varitek.
'Tek is boring.
He should be the LOBSTER!
I covered this already, but I am going to make it my mission to have Varitek be dubbed THE LOBSTER by Red Sox fans everywhere.
Good to have you back Lobstah!
Now handle that pitching staff and let's dip the rest of the division in buttah!
Varitek is way over the hill. The Red Sox really should've tried harder to acquire a good young catcher this offseason.
ReplyDeleteOver the hill?
ReplyDeleteVaritek was his old self in 2008 with the exception of the games between his return from a road trip to find his wife ready to leave him and his formally filing for divorce. For that period--most of June and July--he wasn't as good as a AAA call-up, hitting just .156/.248/.230. Through April and May he was an All Star caliber catcher (.272/.353/.470), just as he was fine in August (.264/.376/.431) before entering his usual September slump. His season was ruined by his divorce.
Using pitcher splits by catcher from Baseball Reference, Varitek seems to help pitchers by 4% to 8% on average, a very significant amount. Some pitchers--notably Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Hideki Okajima--are much, much better when pitching to Tek.
Re-signing Jason Varitek was an important move by the Red Sox FO this off season. Look for him to be good--maybe a .250 hitter with middling power--at the plate this season...and look for him to be great behind the plate calling pitches.