Varitek re-signs with Boston, 1 year 5 million

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

It's always great to see Boras lose a battle.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3872796

Edited February 4, 2009 by support

[Invader3K]

I was laughing when I saw there were reports "Varitek might sit out the season or retire."

 

I think he was badly overestimating his own worth at this point.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

http://sports.espn.go.com...872033&name=Neyer_Rob

 

I thought this was an interesting article on Varitek's effect on a game by how he calls pitches. It basically says there isn't one. This confirms my belief that when people talk about how Jason Kendall affects pitchers so much by how he calls games is hogwash.

[Invader3K]

Hmmm...that really is pretty interesting. I guess it goes to show that even if pitchers do like working with Varitek, they don't necessarily perform better with him behind the plate.

[phxMILWfan]

1 year 5 million... really? Makes me feel great about Kendalls contract.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Well I'd rather have Varitek than Kendall because he plays about equal defense and at least hits for some power. Kendall is good for about one home run per year.

[Invader3K]

I don't know...I think Kendall might actually be a little better defensively than Varitek at this point.

[Ennder]

Last year Kendall was one of the best defensive catchers in baseball, I don't have much hope that he'll repeat it though.

[Fear The Chorizo]

It's a good thing he waited the market out!

[jwill535]

Thank god the national nightmare is over. Can you imagine Boston without Varitek...I shiver at the thought.

[Invader3K]

Well, ESPN made it sound like it might be a national emergency when it was possible he might retire or sit out the season.

[MessiahRp]

Well, ESPN made it sound like it might be a national emergency when it was possible he might retire or sit out the season.

There's a bit of exaggeration in this statement. It's a very slow period for sports news in general and extremely slow for Baseball... of course a 24 hours sports news station is going to talk about a high profile player's contract situation coming to a head at this point. There's very little else to talk about (unless we want to rehash 2 million pointless cliche'd Super Bowl week interviews).

 

I know that most Brewers fans and small market fans in general hold ESPN in contempt for how much attention they give to the Red Sox and Yankees but if they didn't draw ratings as well as they do then they wouldn't be covered as well as they are. If Milwaukee can string together a few serious seasons of contention they will get in the conversation as well. Let's recall that the Packers are always talked about as if they were God's Gift to Football and Favre has been covered as if he were Jesus himself.

 

ESPN will cover whatever draws ratings no matter where they are located.

 

Rp

[Invader3K]

I think it's partly a self fulfilling prophecy...if you give the Red Sox more attention, their games will get more ratings, and consequently so will any news related to them.

 

Yes, I understand that ultimately winning cures everything, though. I will also give ESPN credit that their Yankees coverage seemed to tail off last season when it became clear they had no chance to make the playoffs.