Scott Boras must be getting desperate.
Over the weekend, the Boston Herald ran a story alleging Yankee interest in Jason Varitek. Michael Silverman wrote:
A $50 million contract worth some $13 million a year is not in the offing for Varitek. It should require something closer to a two- to four-year deal worth $10-11 million a year to sign Varitek. He is coming off a four-year, $40 million deal.
Teams expected to be in on the bidding include the Tigers and Angels. Do not dismiss the chances of the Yankees going after Varitek as doubt remains about whether Posada’s shoulder, surgically repaired last season, will allow him to catch in 2009. . . .
I dismissed this one. I figured that either Silverman was trying to rile up Red Sox fans or that Boras was attempting to scare the team into believing that someone might actually be interested in Varitek.
Today, I realized it was the latter as the Boras machine ramped up its work. Playing off of a post by Curt Schilling, Ken Rosenthal attempted to excuse Varitek’s bad 2008 by pointing to a divorce and a viral infection that went unreported for the entire duration of the season.
Meanwhile, Rosenthal drops this gem: “The impact of Varitek’s defense and leadership is not measurable. Nor is the impact of his physical and emotional difficulties last season.”
The impact of Varitek’s defense and leadership may not be measurable, but that’s a point up for grabs. What is measurable is the fact that he hit .220/.313/.359 in nearly 500 plate appearances. What is measurable is that he’s shown a fairly significant decline since his career years in 2004 and 2005. What is measurable is that, as a catcher turning 37 a few days after Opening Day, time and history are not on Varitek’s side.
Now, I’m in no position to comment on Varitek’s unreported injuries. Maybe he actually was injured, and maybe the Red Sox and the Boston media managed to miss that fact for an entire season. Or maybe Varitek, his friends and agent are trying to portray his grit and leadership as the defining characteristics in the hope that some team will give him a woefully overvalued contract.
But no matter the truth, I don’t want to see Varitek anywhere near the Yankees. He’s old; he’s pretty useless from an on-field perspective; and he’s one of the few Red Sox I actively would not root for were he to end up in the Bronx. The Yanks don’t need him; they don’t want him; and they have more pressing needs on which they plan to spend.
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