The Red Sox declined their $5 team option on Jason Varitek yesterday, but the Captain had a $3 million player option that
he decided to exercise last night:
NESN learned on Monday night that the 37-year-old Varitek will exercise
his $3 million player option for 2010 that includes up to another $2
million in incentives. The move is expected to be formalized on Tuesday
and will keep Varitek with the Red Sox through at least the end of 2010.
With
the incentives, Varitek would earn an additional $400,000 for starting
80 games in 2010 and another bonus for every 10 starts thereafter.
Varitek is done as a useful player. His bat is subpar and his defense is atrocious. Given that the Sox exercised their option on Victor Martinez, 'Tek will almost certainly be the backup catcher, making those incentives less than likely to kick in absent a Youkilis or Lowell injury that forces Martinez to first base.
Yeah, but no chance he was even going to get a sniff at $3 million without this...
The problem is that Varitek isn't even a worthy backup catcher. His defense is absolutely god-awful at this point, and who carries a decent-hitting, no-glove backup catcher? No one, because doing so is frickin' pointless! Mark Wagner, who plays excellent defense and might not be totally useless with the bat would be a much better choice, plus he would be about $2.7 million cheaper than Varitek. Why the Red Sox felt the need to give Varitek this option year, after it had become apparent that no other team would even give up the draft picks necessary to sign him, much less give him a multi-year deal, is absolutely beyond me. I hope they release him.