Varitek

[Chitalian Stallion]

Recently on WEEI, Bor@$$ came on and told evryone that he and tek want 50 mil for 5 yrs. Look I like Tek and all, but are his demands too much? I would not sign him to that contract and if he doesn't budge, would rather sign Mirrabelli for one year until Shopp is ready. Here are his stats...

BA SLG G AB R H HR RBI BB SO SB

J.Varitek .296 .482 137 463 67 137 18 73 62 126 10

The Sox are offerin 3yrs for 24mil. What would you do?

[CalvnHobs6]

3 years 24 million is a great offer for an old-ish catcher. What's interesting is that that isn't really that far off from 5 years 50. A little negotiation, and the middle man is 4 years 36 million...which could translate into 3 years with a 4th year option. The biggest problem with this is that Tek wants a no trade clause. If the sox sign ANY player to a no trade clause, a clause for manny automatically kicks in. The Sox aren't sure if they want to fully commit to the rest of manny's contract, as well as a full commitment to Tek's contract. So there's a lot of negotiation that needs to take place.

 

To answer your question: Yes, his demands are too much.

[Gertie]

I think Varitek is the one player they most need to resign, but they really can't if he's asking for an astronomical number. I'm sure that's the thinking in the front office as well. So I agree that his demands, as of now, are too much.

[yeszir]

Much too much. Scott Boras deserves to be shot in all of his extremities and left to die on the floor alone. Varitek can't possibly be this greedy, it has to be Boras's influence. That said, I'd rather let Tek walk then throw this kind of money for this long at him.

 

Shoppach ready soon?

[Gertie]

No, Mirabelli would have to start for probably half a season to all of next season. Shoppach still needs more time to develop I think.

[ahhchon]

5 year 50 million LOL. no one is going to offer an aging catch that kind of money.

 

see you later tek, nice knowing ya.

 

john

[Gertie]

You'd be suprised. Javy Lopez got that kind of money from the Orioles.

[ahhchon]

orioles management also have no idea what's going on. they signed 3 huge bats during the offseason, what do they have to show for it? .500 record.

 

if they signed 3 pitchers they would have been contenders. (good pitchers that is)

 

javy lopez also had 35+ hr's the year before he was signed.

 

john

[Zenny]

I'd do 2 years, $8 million per with a team option for a third at $9 mil. That's more than fair for a catcher who will be 33. If he doesn't like it, well, I hear that L.A. is looking for a new catcher. Have fun in Dodger Stadium, Tek, where your .750 road OPS will become a .650 home OPS, instead of that cushy .900.

[mosox]

There's no way Shoppach is ready. This season in Pawtucket he hit .233 with 138 K's in 113 games. He averaged a strikeout for every 3 at bats. I'm also not sold on Mirabelli going a full season at 130+ games. Tek can go somewhere else and have his numbers sink, but what will he care? He'll have his 5 year deal and the Sox will be left with a huge hole to fill. Tek's leadership and presence have to be measured here. Did the loss of Pudge affect the Marlins pitching staff as well as their lineup this season? They had to go out and trade for Laduca midseason. I don't know what the answer is, but is there any question that Boras is the problem?

[Sizzlin22]

I think Shoppach needs 2 years so we should sign Tek to a 3 year deal to make him happy and let Shoppach rot in the minors one mre year.

[Johnny_RedSox]

Mirabelli as our starting catcher

 

the nightmares are already starting!!

[elsrbueno]

Originally posted by Johnny_RedSox@Nov 10 2004, 12:29 PM

Mirabelli as our starting catcher

 

the nightmares are already starting!!

Not so fast...

 

He too is a free agent.

[Johnny_RedSox]

i know but if we get stuck that might be a short term solution

 

one i will not like!!

 

i wish we had PUNCH!!

[CrespoBlows]

Well if we can't resign Vartiek, I say we have no other alternatve then to give it to Shoppach for the year. I hope Papa Jack can fix his swing, like he should be doing with Youkillis. Shoppach can play great defense, call a good game, and can hit the ball well. I don't expect him to strike out every 3rd abat again, because his track record doesn't show anything that would make me believe it would extend. He's going to be a .260/.360/.425 number kind of guy.

[Chitalian Stallion]

Even worse is that there are rumors that the yanks are trading posada and others to AZ for Johnson and signing Tek. :thumbdown:

[RedSoxRooter]

Yankees can suck it. Anyway, this is an interesting tid bit from Projo.

 

"The question is whether Varitek, who'll turn 33 in April, will be able to get such an offer from any team on the free-agent market.

 

Boras, naturally, thinks he will.

 

"He merely wants the quid pro quo of where his standing is among catchers in the game," Boras told WEEI. "Certainly I don't think anyone's going to argue that Jason Varitek tops that list."

 

Some within the Red Sox front office might. One of their senior advisors, Bill James, has devised a system of measurement called Win Shares that determines a player's value each season. According to Win Shares, Varitek was the fifth-best catcher in the American League in 2004 (behind the Tigers' Ivan Rodriguez , the Yankees' Jorge Posada , the Guardians' Victor Martinez and the Orioles' Javy Lopez ) and the seventh-best in baseball (with the Pirates' Jason Kendall and the Braves' Johnny Estrada also rating ahead of him)."

 

.... and that is where he stands at his "peak"....

Not knowing what Win Shares are, I'll say the ranking of the catchers is right on. That's how I'd rate them as far as impact and quality on the field. Can somebody explain to me Win Shares in simple terms?

[Yankeesin05]

I don't think Theo's going to pay Vartiek the 5 years, god willing I'd love to have a GM with that kind of intellegence on our team.

 

I consider myself a follower of all things baseball, and I think Shoppach will be a Jason Vartiek clone, with more homeruns. I don't, however, believe Shoppach is ready. He needs one more year, and then he can take over.

 

Maybe the Sox can do, resign Mirabelli to catch on 3 days, and another catcher, possibly Sandy Martinez, or a cheap catcher to catch on the other 2. Call Shoppach up in Septemeber, and see what he can do.

 

If I would sign Vartiek to any contract it would be a 2 year 16 million dollar deal, with a no trade clause. Possibly a 10 million dollar team option.

[Chitalian Stallion]

I agree with yankeesin05, we should probably sign a cheap catcher that is mostly similar to tek's game-calling and defense and get our offense from other places. If anything I would just change the length and trade clause because Posada makes 12mill (I think) and 10 mill is reasonable considering that in my opinion Tek is better. At the most we should sign him to a 3yr deal with a 4th yr option, I dont think he'd do less than that.

[CrespoBlows]

Scott Boras won't budge from that 5 year 50 million dollar contract. So I think we better be prepared to say goodbye to Vartiek. Unless he dumps his sorry ass agent, and signs his own contract.

[Sizzlin22]

I hate Boras I really do.

[YanksHater213]

Originally posted by Sizzlin22@Nov 11 2004, 07:46 AM

I hate Boras I really do.

Your not alone, I think every fan, GM, and person not his client, family, or friend hate him

[elsrbueno]

I had a thought, you all can tell me if I'm crazy.

 

If Varitek/Boras don't budge from their 5 year $50 million demand, what do you think of trying to sign Mike Matheny?

 

I noticed that he's also a free agent, has no bat really, but is supposed to be awesome with pitchers and a rock behind the plate.

 

Will probably be signed for less money than V-Tek, and if he can be signed for 2 years, he could be full time in 05 and help mentor Shopp in 06.

 

Thoughts?

[Johnny_RedSox]

we cant offer him a 5 year deal, id rather sign a journeyman for 1 year

 

we have to be smart and think for the future!!

 

3 years tops for varitek, 5 if he accepts less $$ per year!

[YanksHater213]

Lets face it, Tek should only be signed for a 2/3 year max. We have Shoppach coming up and improving, so we should be able to not need Tek by then. If he doesnt take that, then we still have Mirabelli, who has been an above average backup for us. Either way, I think we will do fine.

 

Matheny could be another option, but I have a feeling he would be staying with St. Louis. I really think we would be better off with Mirabelli than Matheny because Mirabelli can handle the Knuckleball, and has just as good of a bat.

 

20,000

[DOrtiz4prez]

I didn't even realize he was a free agent. He sounds like a good idea, but he might be just a little bit better than Mirabelli. I think I might go with just Mirabelli over Matheny for now because Belli can catch knuckles and already knows all of our pitchers.

[sarasoxfan]

I think we can all agree that Boras-shole is a bad guy, a greedy guy.

Personally, I love Douigie, but at his age I dont think he can be an every day guy I think the shoppach solution doesnt really do it either. Sandy Martinez is a stiff.

So I would think the answer would be to go out and get someone.

 

I think before things get harsh they ouutta tell Bor******* to shove it and move on.

 

I am sick and tired og agents running the show. I am disappointed in Tek for letting this guy f*** tthings up so much. Ads much as we all love Tek, he could veto anything the agent does.

 

It's always surprising just how greedy these guys can be...just when you think the guy is a loyal good guy, boom something like this brings you back to reality.

Ortiz is more of a God because he genuinely wanted to stay.

[mosox]

I have a bad feeling history is about to repeat itself.

1980 was Carlton Fisk's last season with the Red Sox, he hit .289 with 18 homers and 62 RBI.

This year Varitek hit .296 with 18 homers and 73 RBI.

[Chitalian Stallion]

Instead of talking about Matheny, D Miller (Oakland's catcher) is a free agent, I would rather sign him than Matheny. He hit .290+ with decent power and I believe he has decent defense and play-calling skills. He won it with AZ so he has experience also.

[ahhchon]

why is everyone hating on bora$, in the end he's just doing his job. honestly, i don't like what the guy is doing BUT if gm's didn't give in to him he wouldn't have that kind of power. if NO one in the league will sign tek for 5 years don't you think he'll have to lower his contract.. what's he going to do? play in japan for nothing?

 

in the end it's the players who are greedy, the agent is paid to get the player the most amount of money possible.

 

when there is a salary cap issue do you see the agents striking? no, it's the players.

 

john