Tell Me Lies, Tell Me Sweet Little Lies

The Jason Varitek soap opera continues to ramble on, with fresh new drama popping up at every turn.

Boras started the offseason trumpeting that Tek deserved, and would receive, a Jorge Posada-like 4 year/$52 million deal. Tek turned down the Red Sox offer of arbitration (which would have resulted in a one year deal for around $10 million), and forged ahead into the free agent market – confidently assured that he could do better.

Except that hasn’t happened. Not only has Tek not received a better offer… it doesn’t appear as though he’s received any offers at all. And in the meantime, the Sox acquired Josh Bard, Boras poisoned the negotiating waters in Boston during the Teixeira negotiations, and the market for catchers has all but dried up.

In the latest installment of the Varitek Saga, we learn that Tek invited principal owner John Henry down to his home in Georgia for a one-on-one meeting: no Theo, no Boras. Tek will only say the meeting “went OK”, Henry will not comment. Not surprisingly, Heidi Watney had the inside scoop on what went down at the meeting. But completely surprisingly was Tek’s claim that he had no idea refusing arbitration meant other teams would have to give up a draft pick to sign him.

I don’t buy that for a second. Jason Varitek is known far and wide for being one of the smartest players behind the plate, and prides himself on obsessively studying every aspect of the game and compiling vast notebooks of information. Further, this ain’t his first time at the rodeo: he’s been a part of free agency negotiations before, and is a seasoned veteran of the game. So either he’s lying… or he’s willfully ignorant about one of the most basic aspects of baseball contracts. I’m not sure which is more troubling.

This whole thing seems eerily reminiscent of the A-Rod/Yanks talks from 2007. Boras acts like a giant tool in negotiating with the team and pisses the leadership off, and then allows himself (like all bad cops do) to step back and be played in the press as being sidelined during negotiations so that his client can save face… and get paid.
Whatever the real truth behind all the playacting and posturing, it’s clear that Tek’s teammates want him back, and according to what he told the Globe, he wants to be back. Whether he’s now willing to sacrifice a multi-year contract and/or millions of dollars to make that happen – and exactly how much the Sox ownership will be willing to pay now – is still up in the air.

I can think of few things I’d want more than to have Tek on board in a mentorship and coaching role to develop future generations of Sox ballplayers. I only hope it isn’t too late to make that happen.