Tek is Back and I'm not Sold

Jason Varitek and Boston Redsox have reached an agreement on a contract … and I am just plain pissed about it.

Tony Massarotti has the contract breakdown.
Varitek will earn $5MM in 2009, with the club holding a $5MM option for 2010. If the Red Sox do not pick up that option, Varitek has the choice of remaining with the club on a $3MM deal. In '10, he can earn another $2MM in incentives based on playing time, beginning at 80 games started. Thus, the potential total value of the deal increases from $8-$10MM to $10-$12MM. The incentives apply to both the team and player options for 2010.

Don’t get me wrong for the last 12+ years Tek was everything you could have wanted. A tough hard nosed ball player who displayed leadership and loyalty when others in the sport were me me me guys. He is a fan favorite and plays the game the way it should be played. He was an essential part of 2 world series teams and the captain.
But the guys better years are behind him. He will be 37 this year and his bat is slower than old people having sex. Honestly I think it was time to move on. Many people have talked about his divorce getting in the way. That is a tough thing to go through but its manageable. His stats have been going down the past few years. Think back to last year how many times was tek up with runners on base and he grounded into a inning ending double play. Think back to the playoffs when he could not buy a hit and the sox carried 3 catchers so they could hit for hi.

For all the talk about Tek being a computer behind the plate it all depends on the health and talent of his pitchers not Tek.

In 2005 the sox ranked 11 out of 14 teams in the AL in team ERA. This was the sox first year without Pedro. Schill was hurt and Matt Clement started game 1 of the ALDS
2005 Starting Rotation
Clement
Arroyo
Wells
Wakefield
Wade Miller / Curt Schilling
In 2006 again they ranked 11 out of 14 teams in team ERA. This was the year Beckett first came over to the AL.

2006 Starting Rotation
Beckett
Schill
Clement
Wakefield
Lester/Wells/Snyder
In 2007 They were first. Schilling and Beckett had ERA’s in the 3’s and the Bullpen was great. Pap and Okey big time
2007 Rotation
Schilling
Beckett
Dice K
Wakefield
Tavarez/Lester
In 2008 they dropped to 4th my guess is do to the 4+ ERA from Beckett..

2008 Rotation
Lester
Dice K
Beckett
Wakefield
Colon/Byrd/Bucholtz
All I am saying here is that if the pitching staff has talent Tek helps them reach it. If they don’t have talent as in ’05 when the immortal Matt Clement was our ace Tek is just another guy.

As you can see 07 and 08 starting rotation had much more talent Than 05 and 06

As far as great for the young guys there is true and false there. For every Jon Lester and Jonathan Papelbon that has learned from Tek there is a Abe Alveres or Brian Rose who comes up and gets nothing out of Tek.
Listen you can either pitch or you can’t it has nothing to do with the catching.

This all being said, he’s my teams catcher now I have to support him so go tek. But hopefully Theo will make a trade for a young catcher for Tek to groom. Im not sold on Buchholz so I say trade him for the catcher of the future.

Next up the Fat guy on the Super Bowl