By Paul Jarvey, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
Tim Wakefield will be back for his 15th season with the Red Sox, but whether Jason Varitek will again be his teammate is another matter.
The Sox picked up the option on Wakefield’s contract yesterday, guaranteeing the 43-year-old knuckleballer $4 million for next season. He has an unusual contract in which the club gets a perpetual option to bring him back for the following season.
His salary is considered a bargain for an end-of-the-rotation starter given the cost of pitching these days.
If Wakefield is healthy, he likely will become the club’s all-time leader in starts. He’s 15 behind Roger Clemens with 367.
Wakefield already has the longest continuous tenure of any pitcher in club history.
After he went 10-11 this past season, holding opponents to a .228 batting average, third lowest in the American League, it was expected that the Sox would bring him back for another year.
It was also expected that that Varitek would file for free agency, which he did on Thursday along with teammates David Ross and Alex Cora.
Varitek, 36, had the worst season of his career last year, hitting just .220 before going 4 for 34 in the playoffs, but he is still a highly regarded catcher and the Sox don’t have anyone on their roster or in their farm system ready to replace him.
The club hasn’t started negotiating with Varitek’s agent Scott Boras yet, but that is expected to commence soon. Even if the Sox re-sign Varitek, it’s likely they would bring in a backup catcher with some offensive skills to share the load behind the plate.
The Sox have a 15-day window to negotiate exclusively with the free agent before he hits the open market.
There are indications that Boras may try to peddle Varitek to the Detroit Tigers, a club with a deep enough lineup to be able to afford carrying a weak-hitting catcher with strong leadership and defensive skills.
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