Captain Jason Varitek Will Return To the Boston Red Sox For 2010

Jason Varitek, longtime Boston Red Sox catcher and the only player in Major League Baseball history to catch four no hitters, has excercised his $3 million option and will be with the club for the 2010 season. I, for one, am very happy about it. He'll catch a couple times a week, most likely every Josh Beckett start, and be an invaluable teacher in the Sox clubhouse. He'll be there and he'll be needed...that's important. His offense for the past two seasons has declined rather sharply. In 2008 he batted .220 and a career low .209 in 2009. He also managed to throw out only 10 of 118 runners attempting to steal last season. He holds the Red Sox record, playing 1381 games as a catcher and as I said before, he's been behind the plate for a no hitter a staggeringly outrageous four times. Great job, 'Tek. Here's Red Sox GM Theo Epstein...

“We’re happy to have Jason back,” Epstein said before leaving the meetings for a flight back to Boston. “We look forward to a good year from him in 2010. He means an awful lot to the organization on and off the field. He helps solidify our catching position. He’s also a big asset to the pitching staff. We’re happy he decided to come back and stay in the organization he’s such an important part of.”

Yes, it's all good with me, too. Jason will keep the younger pitcher's minds on an even keel and generally help them perform to their utmost capabilities. Great job, Theo and company.

Last but not least and certainly untrue, a Japanese sports web site has reported that the Red Sox may have interest in signing World Series MVP Hideki Matsui. Sorry, Japanese sports web site, whoever you might be. Matsui is a great player but he cannot play the outfield because of his knees. File this story under FALSE. The Sox want to resign Jason Bay or someone like, oh, Matt Holliday. The Green Monster needs a master with a glove and currently, Boston does not have one. I remember when Yaz was patrolling left field and he could play the Monster like a musical instrument, watching the flight of the ball, setting himself in the perfect spot to catch it off the wall and gunning it to second base to utterly nail the idiot who was trying to reach second base. In most cases, the ball arrived at second when the runner was 15 feet away from the bag. THAT WAS YAZ. He knew evey dent and cranny of that green friend of the devil and used it to his advantage, taking away so many doubles from opposing batters that it would be hard, no, impossible for me to count them. He was wonderful and I'll never forget how lucky I was to see him play live, right in front of my unbelieving eyes. Love ya, YAZ!!

That's it for this Thursday warmish morning. Right now it's 5:31am EST and the day beckons. I'll approach it slowly, at my own pace. I'll leave the house around 8am est. There will be traffic but what can anyone do about it? Nuttin'...that's what, except turn the radio on and leave it loud, really loud.

You can click on the title of this post for more about the Red Sox SI dot com style and as always, BE WELL. Your comments would be great. I'll answer every one of 'em. That's a promise from me to you. See ya!