Are WE Catching A Last Look At Varitek?

October 17, 2008 | Boston Globe| By Dan Shaughnessy

 

Is that all for Jason Varitek in Boston? Was last night's Game 5 of the American League Championship Series the last time you'll see him at Fenway in a Red Sox uniform?


Nobody wants to talk much about it, but clearly this is a real possibility. The 36-year-old catcher is a free agent this winter and he's at the end of 12 major league seasons, all with the Red Sox. He hit only .220 with 13 homers and 43 RBIs this season. He was particularly anemic batting from the left side.


Varitek's regular-season woes carried over into the postseason. He is 0 for 12 in the ALCS and was actually booed when he popped up to end an inning in Game 3. Overall, he is batting .115 (3 for 26) in eight postseason games. Terry Francona, a manager who gives new meaning to the term "loyal," pinch hit for Varitek twice in the first six games of the playoffs and did it again last night, sending up Sean Casey to bat for him in the eighth inning of a 7-6 game after Vartitek had gone 0 for 2. This would have been unthinkable in the old days.


It's hard to imagine the Red Sox without their captain. He's caught more games for Boston than any other Red Sox backstop - more than Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk, more than Sammy White, Rich Gedman, or Bill Carrigan. He's appeared in more postseason games than any other Red Sox player - more than Dwight Evans, Carl Yastrzemski, Manny Ramírez, or David Ortiz.


Can you even remember the name of the Red Sox' starting catcher before Varitek? It was Mike Stanley in 1997. Varitek shared the job with Scott Hatteberg in '98, then took over in '99. Varitek has played for Jimy Williams, Joe Kerrigan, Grady Little, and Francona. He caught no-hitters thrown by Hideo Nomo, Derek Lowe, Clay Buchholz, and Jon Lester. He caught Pedro's masterpiece in New York in 1999 and the Bloody Sock game in 2004.


He's been playing in big games since he was 12 years old.


You can make an argument that Jason Varitek played in more important amateur games than anyone else in the history of baseball. His Altamonte Springs, Fla., team made it to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Va., when he was 12 in 1984. His Georgia Tech team lost the final game of the College World Series in Omaha. Baseball America says he's the greatest college catcher of all time. He played on the United States Olympic team in Barcelona in 1992. He played two seasons with the Hyannis Mets and is in the Cape Cod League Hall of Fame.


All that happened before Dan Duquette stole him from the Seattle Mariners' farm system (along with Lowe) for Heathcliff Slocumb July 31, 1997.


Now it is impossible to imagine the Sox without him. He's been captain since the end of 2004, the 18th Boston player awarded that designation.


Varitek's game-calling is legendary. He keeps blue binders on every Sox rival.

Francona said, "When Jason puts a finger down, there's a pretty good chance that the pitcher is throwing that pitch with conviction . . . because of Tek's preparation, that's what's going to happen. That doesn't happen overnight, that takes a long time and Tek deserves that. You don't see a lot of guys out there wondering or second-guessing Jason."


Exactly. Did you see Daisuke Matsuzaka shake off Varitek last night? Not likely.


The preparation is exhausting. Catching nine innings for 130 games a year is exhausting. Switch hitting is exhausting. Varitek has worn down drastically in the last three years and has shown signs of wear throughout the season. It comes at a bad time for a player about to go into the free agent marketplace.


Scott Boras represents Varitek, which could also make things difficult. The Sox have dealt with Boras regularly through the years (Matsuzaka, J.D. Drew to name a couple) and after the 2004 season Varitek rejected Boras's wait-'em-out strategy and reupped with the Sox in December. It's going to be tougher this time. The Sox have hard feelings toward Boras in the wake of Ramírez's disgraceful exit, and Varitek is coming off his worst season. It doesn't help Varitek that the Yankees gave Jorge Posada a four-year, $52.4 million deal last winter. Posada had season-ending shoulder surgery in 2008.


But Varitek is not without leverage. The Sox have no catcher in the system ready for prime time and the free agent crop is thin. Never sentimental, Messrs. Epstein and Lucchino are going to have to put a price on game-calling and preparation from a catcher who is likely to bat ninth in the order. They are unlikely to offer more than two years with a club option. Not after what they've seen in 2008.


Last night might have been it.