Red Sox Sign Jason Varitek; What This Means For Boston

Finally. The Red Sox and longtime captain Jason Varitek have agreed to a new contract.

Varitek, a fixture in the Red Sox lineup, agreed with the Red Sox this afternoon to a two-year contract. In 2009, Varitek will be paid $5 million, that is half of what he could have made as a minimum in salary arbitration.

For 2010, there is a dual option to bring Varitek back. The team has an option to bring back Varitek, paying out $5 million. If the Red Sox don't pick up that option, Varitek can choose to exercise his option, but that one only pays $3 million.

Also, in 2010, Varitek can earn up to $2 million based on playing time. They are only valid if the player option is exercised.

Varitek, according to reports from former teammates Sean Casey and Curt Schilling, sincerely wanted to return to Boston. This is curious because months earlier he rejected the Red Sox' offer of salary arbitration, where Varitek could have made from $10-12 million.

Varitek, or his agent Scott Boras rather, cited "fear that the Red Sox could cut him if he accepted arbitration" as a reason for rejecting arbitration. However, many notable baseball analysts have been reporting that that reason is likely false.

This move, believe it or not, is very good for the Red Sox. Here are the pros and cons:

Pros

• Varitek knows most of the Red Sox pitching staff. Josh Bard has already been a member of the Red Sox and was traded away for his poor defense. George Kottaras projects to be a pretty good defensive catcher, but for the time being, the Red Sox need a veteran catcher to mentor not only their young pitchers, but also young catchers.
• Varitek is the Red Sox clubhouse leader. He is the guy with a professional attitude off the field and Theo Epstein has been trying to build a team which emulates Tek's attitude for quite awhile. Everyone in the clubhouse looks up to Varitek, and it would be a shame if he wasn't brought back.
• Also to his credit, Varitek was one of the 2004 'leftovers,' who in the 2007 ALCS, taught the young kids on the team not to freak out about being down three games to one, and instead of winning three games in a row, to focus on winning one inning at a time. Could the 2007 title be possible without this valuable advice?
• Need I mention how big of a PR disaster it would be to let the team captain leave to another team in free agency, or to just let him spoil in free agency and eventually retire without his dignity?

Cons

• Varitek is 36, turning 37 in April. That's pretty old for any MLB player, let alone a catcher. For catchers, they figuratively age in dog-years compared to other position players or pitchers. And they gave him a two-year deal, what?!
• Varitek is coming off the worst offensive season in his career, in which he hit .220 with 43 runs batted in.

• With his age and given the position he plays, it isn't likely for Varitek to come back. I'm not ruling out that he can't do better than his 2008 numbers, but at best he will probably hit in the .220-.240 neighborhood.

There are obvious cons to this signing, but overall this deal is a win-win for all sides: the Red Sox, Varitek, the fans, and Scott Boras; who is sitting pretty with the deals he's landed for his clients this winter: Varitek, Mark Teixeira, and Derek Lowe.