Busy Start for the Red Sox

You can tell when the New York Yankees and/or Boston Red Sox are upset with how their seasons turned out. They come out guns blazing and that’s exactly what the Red Sox have done. They began the off season with a trade, now resigning current players and even leaving one long time veteran behind.

The Red Sox began the off season by making another trade with the Florida Marlins. This time acquiring outfielder Jeremy Hermida (.259-13-47) for pretty much nothing at all. The real moves for the Sox thou began today.

First, The Sox picked up Victor Martinez’s $7.1 million option for 2010. While V-Mart wasn’t anything special defensively he provided what the team needed. He provided some energy and sorely needed offensive punch. He batted .336 with 8 homers and 41 rbis in just 56 games in Boston. This move was an absolute no brainer for general manager Theo Epstein.

Next up was what do with their other catcher Jason Varitek. The captain had been on a steady offensive and defensive decline over the past seasons, but this year he took a steep decline. Even losing playing time to Martinez behind the plate. For the season, Tek batted only .209 with 14 homers and 51 rbis. The team held a $5 million option for 2010, take a guess what they did?

That’s right they made another no brainer move and told the Captain they won’t be retaining his services. Luckily for Tek he also holds a player option of $3 million this year, so he could still be playing in Fenway next year. He’s got five days to make his decision, my guess is that he’ll accept as he won’t make much more then that on the open market (if he even gets an offer that high).

Tim Wakefield was another play the team had to make a decision on. His option called for the knuckle baller to make $4 million in 2010 if accepted. The team did not pick up the option but the two sides did agree on a new contract. The two sides agreed on a two-year deal worth a combined $5 million. In 2010, he’ll make $3.5 million and make $1.5 million more in 2011 at the age of 45. With incentives he could make up to $2 million more.

Wake missed time at the end of year, even having surgery for a herniated disk in his back this past month. How quickly he recovers and even how effective he could be at his age is a big question. Regardless it lets the Sox keep a rubber arm at a very cheap rate.

In other news today, the Sox also declined the $6 million option on shortstop Alex Gonzalez. Alex was very productive in his short time in Boston, hitting 5 homers with 15 rbis and a .284 average in 44 games. Much more then any other shortstop could do for the Sox in 2009. This is the one who move that makes me scratch my head a bit. The price tag may be a little high but Boston doesn’t have many other options at the position. It’ll be interesting to see what Epstein does to address the position as Jed Lowrie is not the answer.

Nick Green and Joey Gathright also became free agents after the Sox outrighted them off the 40-man roster.

Like I said earlier the Sox have gotten off to a quick start this off season. It’s not really a surprise either, they had no choice after their poor showing for most of the 2009 season and the playoffs. The moves today seemed more design at cleaning up loose ends and freeing up some payroll for some big ticket items.

Those being Jason Bay, Matt Holliday and possibly a pitcher like John Lackey. The Sox are setting themselves up for a big offseason and I’m sure we’ll be hearing the organizations name a lot during this weeks General Manager Meetings.