Seriously Folks, Jason Varitek Is Not That Bad

He is old. He is overrated. He is well beyond his prime.

His hitting is atrocious. His defense is lacking.

Any unsuspecting member of the Boston area community who happens to listen to a radio, turn on a television, or read a Red Sox blog will quickly learn about a man named Jason Varitek.

According to the various media outlets, Varitek is among the worst players in baseball. He apparently has an uncanny knack for combining a futile hitting approach and sub-par defense with not terrible but in fact cancerous clubhouse personality.

Wait a minute. The Red Sox are still engaged in contract negotiations with a player this bad?

So who is this guy Varitek? A few minutes of researching takes me to Varitek's career statistics page at baseball-reference.com.

His lifetime batting statistics are not outstanding, but they are hardly terrible. What about his defense? Strange. His defensive numbers seem to contradict what has been repeated over the airwaves.

And isn't he the third player since 1923 to be a captain of the Boston Red Sox?

And he made the All-Star team last year?

No, this can't be the same Jason Varitek that supposedly has skills that rival a little leaguer. 

Surprisingly enough, it is. Varitek has caught more flack from the media and fans this offseason than he has pitches during his 12-year career in Boston.

Varitek means so much to this Red Sox team, which is why they are still in contract negotiations with him. Their pitching rotation is based on many pitchers who have never thrown to anybody but No. 33.

Would Jon Lester still be a 16-6 pitcher without him? Would another catcher be able to form the same kind of relationship with Daisuke Matsuzaka, who, last time I checked, doesn't speak English?

Would that bullpen full of young arms be able to be consistently relied upon with someone else behind the plate? Would the team survive another Manny Ramirez-type clubhouse conflict and succeed with that kind of distraction?

Varitek was voted to the 2008 All-Star Game by the people who know his game and his role on the team best: his fellow players. There is no point in the Red Sox paying their pitchers without giving them someone reliable to throw to.