THEOVERPAYS BUT
TEK DEAL GETS DONE

Jason Returns for 4 Years, $40M

"He's the backbone of our team... he's our leader."
-- Just Married Johnny Damon, CBS4 call

CAPTAIN COMES BACK TO RED SOX,
BUT DIRTBAG BORA$ WINS AGAIN

Varitek returning to Red Sox

By Boston.com Staff | December 23, 2004

Jason Varitek is returning to the Red Sox in time for the holidays.

The free-agent catcher has agreed to a four-year, $40 million contract, a source directly involved in the negotiations told the Boston Globe’s Gordon Edes.

The Red Sox were expected to announce the deal on Friday.

According to the source, the 32-year-old Varitek’s demand for a no-trade clause was the singular issue that kept the sides from reaching a deal previously, but they found some way to satisfy Varitek without granting him a no-trade clause.

ESPN's Peter Gammons to BDD: "Boras told all other teams for two weeks that he would not even discuss Varitek until after Jan. 8, the last date the Sox could sign him, per request of Jason, who made it clear that he wanted to return to Boston."

What do you think about the re-signing of Jason Varitek?

To get Tek signed, Sox go through hell and high water,
and forty million dollars

Who's Been Naughty... and Who's MNice?

The internet is a buzz with chatter that Jason Varitek is on the verge of agreeing to a deal with the Red Sox. On ESPN's Sports Nation message board, a user named MNice109 posted a thread this morning that proclaimed that Varitek was a "done deal." Normally a random message board rumor is not news, but this particular poster has had an uncanny knack for posting Red Sox signing news a day in advance. On Dec. 9, s/he posted that the Sox were serious about signing David Wells and the Wells signing news did not happen until early Dec. 11. On Dec. 12, MNice109 reported that Manny was on the trading block in a Mets deal, no word in the mainstream media until Dec. 13. Now on Sunday, Dec. 12, MNice109 posted that Renteria was out of the picture, but that was the day before Pedro agreed to a deal with the Mets that freed up the money for Edgar. On Tuesday, Dec. 21 the new post said "The Sox are signing Wade Miller." The news came out first on ESPN almost 24 hours later. Now today, at 8:52am, MNice109 posted that "Tek is a done deal." No news since. Take it for what it's worth.

Newsday: Tek Re-Signing with Sox

Wade Miller Phone Conference
(with comments from Theo Epstein)

How you feeling?

The prognosis was I had a frayed right rotator cuff, sidelined me for the second half of the year this past year. I’m currently doing rehab, I started rehabbing the day I got home, I’ve been doing that three times a week, it’s been going fairly well. I saw the doctor in Boston yesterday, he said everything looked good and I plan on throwing the first week of January. I start throwing as I normally would any other year, and I plan on going down to spring training a couple of weeks early to get ready down there, to start throwing outside, and get used to throwing outside. You have to hit the rehab hard and when the season starts you don’t stop that. You have to keep going and doing the exercises and keeping the arm strong.

Why Boston?

I wanted to go to a good team. Obviously they have good pitching, I think I can be a good part of that. They’re the best team in baseball right now, I thought it was a good fit for me and my family. It didn’t take long, they were aggressive, they wanted to get something done right away, and I was open to that. I know other teams had interest, but I’d been to Boston before, it’s a great city, great baseball town, and it’s something I wanted to be a part of.

Pitching in the AL?

I’ve thought about it a little bit, you don’t have the pitcher in there to ease the pain as they would say, skipping over the eight hitter to get to the pitcher, I realize that but it’s a little bit harder. I’ve pitched against the Yankees, the Red Sox, and Kansas City a few times, so it’s exciting. I’m ready for the challenge, I’m ready to face new hitters and see what I bring to the table.

Pitching in Boston?

I’ve pitched at Minutemaid for four years, that was a pitcher’s park and I’m going to pitch the same as I do at any park, regardless of the dimensions of the ballfield, I just try to go out there and pitch my game and not try to think about the short left field. It might add a little bit more pressure to do well (the passion of the fans, World Series team), with  the new team and everything. They have great fans. I always loved coming to Boston. The passion and the love for baseball. I think it’s very exciting. I’ve always thrived more when I pitched in Chicago than any other away ballpark.

Why non-tendered?

I was disappointed but I wasn’t surprised. I knew it was a possibility. They had a decision to make. They felt they weren’t going to take a risk on me that’s what I think. They made a decision, there’s no hard feelings there, but I played nine seasons there, it’s tough to move on.

Theo speaks:

We looked at this as a great opportunity, one that was definitely worth our while. It’s not every day that you get a chance to acquire a guy who’s a potential top of the rotation starting pitcher. We think that we structured a contract that’s fair to both sides with relatively minimal risk if the injury provides more of a setback than we anticipate but there’s also upside for Wade if he goes out and does what we expect him to do and stays healthy all year. He’s a guy who impacts a pitching staff, and those guys are hard to come by in trade, let alone free agency.

Schilling, Clement, Wells, Miller, Arroyo, Wakefield, they’re all starting pitchers. You can never assume health and readiness to go, so we’ll be very fortunate if we’re in a situation where we have six guys ready to go and healthy at the same time, then Tito will have to make a decision and somebody will have to go to the pen but that’s in an ideal world. This protects us, in case we don’t have somebody ready to go, we still have five starters to throw out there.

I’m prohibited by federal law, the Hippo regulations from going into any detail (Miller’s exam, who examined him, etc.) about Wade’s medical condition. I’ll just say the latest exam shows full range of motion, excellent strength throughout the shoulder and rotator cuff and we’re very optimistic that he’s going to have success when he starts throwing in the next couple of weeks.

Iguchi: Over and Out

"During scouting meetings last week in San Diego, the Sox also worked out Japanese shortstop Tadahito Iguchi. But the Sox, who on Monday traded outfielder Dave Roberts to the Padres for infielder Ramon Vazquez and righthanded-hitting outfielder Jay Payton, plan to pass on Iguchi, according to industry sources familiar with his talks with the team." -- Gordon Edes, Boston Globe

"...the bell horn which protects the this season second base, in lease remaining behind the policy of doing annual salary arrange in prerequisite. The Iguchi "position" which protects the second base and guerrilla warfare is not definitely promised." -- Daily Sports Japan (Babel Fish translation)

Breaking News: Sox Gifts Heading South from North Pole

Santa Source: Both Naughty and Nice Nation Citizens Getting Sox Stocking Stuffers