Varitek Has 5 Days to Decide
UPDATE: the clock is ticking faster, the deadline is really Friday.
Tick...tick...tick, the captain is on the clock and time is running out. When the month comes to an end we will know if Tek will be behind the dish in '09. More from Extra Bases:
A baseball source confirmed this morning that the Red Sox have presented Varitek with a Jan. 31 deadline to accept or decline their most recent proposal, a one-year offer for a guaranteed $5 million with a dual option for 2010. The proposal affords the Sox a $5 million option on the player for that season; should the team decline to exercise the option, Varitek subsequently can return to the team at a salary of $3 million.
Tek may want to now sign a one year deal so he could make more in '10 on the free agent market if he has a good year. The Sox will likely be open to a 1 year deal but they are not going to up the salary much. Boras has really screwed his client on this one by telling him to forego arbitration; a $5 million mistake.
2 comments:
Here's an interesting angle:
A 1-year deal may be the best option for Tek. If he hasa great 2009 season, he could go to arbitration after the season and (learning from his mistakes) likely get another 1-year deal worth $6-8M - a bump from the $5M he would make in 2009.
I doubt he'll do much better than that as a free agent in 2010... and it's better than the $3M option the Sox have proposed.
Thoughts?
I'm not so sure the Sox would offer him arbitration in '10, his numbers may improve over last season but let's face it, he is well past his prime age-wise, especially for a catcher. No other team is going to pick him up for more than $5 mil in '10 and the Sox are not going to have to pay more by offering arbitration when they are looking towards a catcher of the future. I think Tek's best choice is to take the 2 year deal with the Sox and finish out his career in Boston....lest he end up in Nomar land.
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