Posted by Rob Bradford

Thanks to Newman the Intern, here is the transcript from Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein’s appearance on the Dale and Holley Show this afternoon. (Listen here for audio):

What was your interest and what was your view with how things turned out with Mark Teixeira?

Yeah, it’s no secret we had legitimate interest. I think he’s an elite player, a really well-rounded player who’s in his prime and he does a lot of things we like well: he gets on base, hits for power, plays great defense, takes great care of himself. So, he was a good fit for the long term and that was really our interest. Anytime you go after a player who’s going to require a contract of that length, he has to be a good fit for the long term, you can’t to do something like that because you think he’s going to be a good fit for the next one or two years, it has to be a long-term fit. He really would have complemented the core that we’ve developed here really well, there’s no doubt about that. We haven’t yet developed a legitimate power hitter internally, but I think we will. It would have been nice. That was the rationale for our interest. He would have fit into our club over the long haul. We certainly made a run at him. But I’m fine with how it turned out. We didn’t offer him the most money. As it turned out, there was a club that offered more money than we did, and they got the player. Not that that was the only factor in the decision, because there were a lot of factors in it. But you can’t have any complaints when you don’t offer the most money. I thought it was a good sign by the Yankees. Mark did really well for himself. We’ll just have to try to figure out how to get him out over the next eight years. We’ve actually done a pretty good job of getting him out in his career. I hope we continue that.

Did you feel you were running an uphill battle with the Teixeira because of the Yankees presence in the negotiations?

Not necessarily. I think in general that’s how I look at free agent negotiations. True open-market negotiations with players that the Yankees will be interested in, I think they’re going to get that player because they just have a bigger margin for error than we do. I’m not complaining. We have tremendous resources. So many teams look up at us and wish they could be in our financial position, but with respect to the Yankees, history has borne out that they’re going to get the player on the true open market. And that’s fine.

We’re not building this organization through free agency. I don’t think that’s an intelligent way to build an organization. We’re building it through drafting players, signing players internationally, developing a homegrown core from within and complementing it with trades and free agents. I always assume that if the Yankees want a player, that they’re going to get him. That’s why it can’t necessarily be a part of our business model to assume we’re going to land the big-ticket free agents.

With respect to this particular negotiation, I don’t think we were necessarily swimming upstream because he was always going to go back to the Yankees in the end. I don’t necessarily feel that way. I know it can be interpreted that way. But geography played a factor here. He and his family are from the Maryland area. I think that brought the Nationals and Orioles into play a little bit. But specifically with regards to the Yankees, they’re just closer than we are to that area. It’s a quicker train ride or car ride for his family. His wife has some family in New York. To the extent that geography and person reasons played a factor, we had that against us in that important column.

I have no problem with how it turned out in the end. We offered a lot of money but we didn’t offer the most money, so in the end, we moved on.

How much did you find the economic playing field different this year? How much did you find doing business this offseason different than it’s been in the past for you?

It was a little different this year. There’s always the tendency for player salaries to increase each year. I think that’s not going to be the case this winter. Obviously, the truly elite free agents got their money, but everyone else seems to be struggling. That obviously reflects what’s going on with the economy as a whole. I don’t think we should be complaining about it. There are a lot of people out there in far worse positions than those who work in professional baseball. It is what it is. It’s been a market where supply and demand dictated certain positions getting more money than others. In general, teams are watching what they spend. They’re not sure if they’re going to have their normal flows of revenue this year and into the future. They’re just being responsible and disciplined in the way that they spend. That’s made for interesting situations with respect to certain players.

Were you surprised when Varitek declined salary arbitration?

That’s a personal decision. I never would publicly speak about my feelings about that. That was a decision for Jason to make with the advice of those he relies upon. It was early in the offseason, first week of December and at that time the market hadn’t truly defined itself. It wasn’t just Jason. There were a lot of players around baseball who were offered arbitration but were looking for multi-year deals and turned down arbitration. Then the market defined itself and those multi-year deals were harder to find.

With Jason it worked out in the end, I think he and the Red Sox have a contract that accomplished a lot of the goals on both sides, mainly for him, it makes it much more likely that he’ll be a Red Sox not only in 2009 but in 2010 as well. So for the Red Sox, we got a player who, as I said, at the beginning of the offseason we said he was an important part of what we do, and we got him at an affordable price so I think both sides are happy.

Did you go into this offseason thinking you would be able to get Papelbon, Pedroia and Youkilis signed to deals?

With Papelbon, he’s an arbitration eligible player, so we knew we’d get him signed sooner or later one way or another and we were glad we were able to get it done before we had to exchange numbers and get into the arbitration process, so that was a positive. With Pedroia and Youkilis, they were among the players we wanted to sit down and have multi-year conversations with and they were really reasonable and so we were able to work something out. I hope we’ll look back and say that was an important part of our offseason, being able to lock Pedroia up for the length of time that we did with him–six years and an option–and then Youkilis four years and an option. We’ve got these guys through their prime years and a club option. They get a lifetime of security. We get cost control, affordability and knowledge that we’ll keep a good part of our offensive and defensive core intact. It’s a win-win there for all sides.

Youkilis is not a traditional cleanup hitter. Are you comfortable with him as your cleanup guy?

Oh, yeah. It’s not my responsibility. I think Tito is open to hitting him all over the lineup. When people say that Youkilis isn’t a traditional cleanup or middle fo the order hitter, I think they haven’t quite noticed how he’s evolved as a player. When he first came up, his clear strength as an offensive player was his plate discipline. He would show power sporadically, only on certain pitches he could drive. He’s really changed. You’ve probably noticed the last couple of years, and last year in particular, that he’s still got an above-average walk rate, still got above-average plate discipline, but he’s sacrificed a little bit of that patience to look to drive the ball earlier in the count. He’s adjusted his approach a little where there are a number of different places in the strike zone where he can drive the ball. If you look at his numbers last year, they probably reflected that. The Kevin Youkilis of 2008, that guy can probably hit cleanup for any team in baseball, any day of the week.

Is Jason Bay on your list of someone you would like to get signed this offseason as well?

We said at the beginning of the offseason that we weren’t going to talk about who we wanted to lock up, we’d just let you know when it got done, so I don’t want to get into those specifics. But the offseason’s not over yet, but with prospective free agents a year from now, or even other players a few years down the line, it makes sense to let this year’s free-agent market determine itself so you have a reliable recent set of data points before you embark on those negotiations. There’s still a lot of good position players out there who haven’t signed yet. That might put some negotiations out until later in the offseason than would otherwise be the case.

What did Bay bring to the team after he came to Boston?

You saw it. He’s an underrated offensive baseball player who has the ability to hit for power very consistently. His consistency of power output has been overlooked. You can write him up for 30 homers every year, he can drive in about 100 runs. He also does his share of working the count, and will draw his walks and get on base, which we like. He’s a very good baserunner, despite not having great speed, and at times throughout his career has been a very good defensive player as well. He’s kind of what you’re looking for in a player. He’s reliable production, and someone you can count on knowing what his output is going to be at the end of the year. You can write him into the middle of your order. He’s just a calm, veteran presence–plays the game hard, plays the game right, and is a really good teammate. He fit in really well on this club.

Were you surprised you were able to sign John Smoltz at reasonable dollars and what are you thoughts about him?

Yeah, I think our assumption a year ago, and the middle of the year when you kind of go through the free agent list and take a look at who might be available, we just assumed he would be back in Atlanta, and even early this offseason, but when we found out that the potential was there for him to be available, that his rehab was ahead of schedule on the video, we thought it was certainly worth a look.

He’s been a guy that any club would love to have. The only checkmarks against him were age, the shoulder surgery and the fact that he wouldn’t leave Atlanta, so once it was clear he would be available to talk to other clubs and that his rehab was going extraordinarily well we went down and saw him throw and he threw a bullpen for us in early December that would have made us really happy if he had thrown it in early March, and that’s really all we needed to see. He is a bit of a physical freak and can defy age to a certain extent, and he’s recovered from surgeries really well throughout his career. He’s a guy that’s never been nothing but dominant whenever he’s thrown a baseball over the course of his career in the major leagues. So those are the types of guys you can bet on to have success, even late in their careers.

Are you concerned about Jon Lester’s innings jump last year?

I think that any time you jump innings you want to be concerned, but there are a lot of factors that mitigate that. The total last year is a little bit artificially high because we started the season so early. His first outing, for instance, in Japan–that counts, but he would have had that anyway in a spring training game. And he was so efficient with his pitching last year that he got deep in games while maintaining his delivery without having stressful innings. Those are things that factor into the equation as well.

But particularly with our young pitchers, we want to have a more gradual progression. Jon, I think he was just so strong last year and so reliable into the playoffs that we had to push a little bit past where we wanted him to go. I think the good news is that he checked out extremely well with all of his end-of-season testing, had a very productive offseason, he’s already here in Fort Myers. We sent (trainer) Mike Reinold to check on him during the offseason, and he had one fo the strongest shoulders in our whole organization. He’s young, strong, and we’re not going to do anything irresponsible with him. He’s a guy you can feel pretty good about betting on for the long haul with his mechanics, his body, the way he takes care of himself between starts and the way that we’ll use him.

How do you feel about the World Baseball Classic and having some of your players participating in it?

You know, I think it’s a great event, it’s a lot of fun to watch and it’s good for baseball. If you were designing an ideal spring training, you would have all your players in camp and have control over how they’re used, but it is what it is. I think there are pitch count limits in place throughout the tournament that will prevent any serious damage. We’ll just cross our fingers and hope that our players come back healthy. I can’t wait till they get back to camp. But I’m not going to sit here and complain about it. Every club goes through it. In the big picture, it’s a great thing for baseball. Obviously, if G.M.’s had their way, if managers had their way, they’d have all of their players for all of the spring. But we’ll adjust. It’s not the end of the world.

Thoughts about Mike Lowell’s health and the feelings he might have about the rumors concerning him?

As you know he had surgery on the labrum in his hip and we projected him to be ready by the start of the season. That’s still the case. He’s had some really good weeks and some that were frustrating to him. But he’s started swinging the bat and doing some agility work, and he’s pretty much on schedule to be available by the end of spring training and that’s really what we’re focused on, what he’s going to look like at the end of spring training rather than the beginning. If we’re smart about this, he’ll have his limitations early in camp. We’re not going to rush him out there and make sure he can play in the first spring training game. That just doesn’t make sense. So far, it’s been a very routine, normal rehab with some ups and downs along the way.

As far as the feelings he might have, Mike’s a veteran and he understands there’s things organizations have to do when elite players become available, players that might fit for the long haul. Teams that expect to win every year go after those players and that’s the nature of it and I think Mike understands that. Doesn’t mean your feeling don’t get affected a little bit, doesn’t mean that you like it, but Mike’s a veteran and he’s been through it before. We’re talking regularly about his rehab. He’s ready to go. He’s focused on helping the Red Sox win a World Series in 2009. You can not like something personally, but still understand it professionally at the same time.

Is your offseason done or are there move you would like to make if you can?

I think we’re probably done. There are always non-roster invitees that might fit as we round out our spring training roster and there’s always trade discussions as well, so I wouldn’t rule anything out but nothing is that hot or active right now. I think most teams are packing up and heading down to spring training, seeing what they have the first few weeks of camp and then trade discussions will pick up from there. But we’re pretty much set at most positions and I feel good about our depth and redundancy that we have here in camp, and we’ll need it because it’s a long season, and every season we’ve built up depth we’ve needed it to survive the attrition of the season. So we’ll see how we look on the field in a week or so.

Posted by Rob Bradford

So, here we are, finally clear from the Jason Varitek stalemate with only the formalities that come with such a signing left. From the moment the catcher filed for free agency (Oct. 30) until the Jan. 30 verbal handshake, 92 days of speculation/rumors/analysis/more speculation passed.

If you can remember a hot-stove topic that began with so much drama yet was punctuated with as much head-shaking and eyebrow-raising, send the instance along. From all corners, the saga felt exhausting. How many different ways can you ask if game-calling can be quantified, or dip into statistics displaying how far the captain’s offensive game had fallen?

So, I ask the question few want thrown out for fear of needlessly allocating more of your day to deciphering the merits of Varitek’s presence in the Red Sox lineup: Could this all happen again next offseason?

The answer is — not likely, and this is why:

Varitek is in the midst of signing a contract that will pay him a guaranteed $5 million for this season. OK, we get that. He will be making five million bucks this season. What he does during that period of money-making paves the way for the semi-interesting part.

Let’s just say Varitek flips his trend on its ear and rebounds offensively, duplicating his numbers from 2007 when he hit .255 with 17 homers – which the Red Sox would take in a heartbeat. If that was the case, the questions would be:

A. Do the Red Sox pick up the team option of $5 million? My answer: Probably. If Varitek can make that kind of rebound (which would be semi-historic in the pantheon of 37-year-old catchers) it is enough of a sign that he could do it for one more year after that.

B. If the Red Sox don’t pick up Varitek’s option, does he activate his own option of $3 million (plus the potential of $2 million in incentives)? My answer: No. Those numbers — coupled with the notion that he has reversed his trend — are enough to give the catcher confidence that he could secure close to the kind of multi-year deal desired at the outset of this offseason’s foray into free agency.

So if that free-agent card is played once again, don’t expect a scenario like this offseason’s to play out. The reason? Because I doubt, even with those improved numbers, Varitek would be a Type A free agent.

Now, in case you didn’t realize, the catcher’s well-publicized status as a Type A free agent was made possible by the Elias Sports Bureau’s rankings. The way this is done (and excuse me if you’ve heard this one too many times) is that Elias takes the player’s stats over a two-year period and matches them up against other players at his position.

If a player is determined to be in the top 20 percent of his grouping, he will be classified as a Type A free agent, forcing whatever team that would sign said player to forfeit as high as a first-round draft pick (though exceptions exist, based on a) whether the team has one of the first 15 picks in the first round, in which case that selection is protected and no better than a second-round pick could be offered as compensation; or b) whether a team has signed another Type A free agent with an even higher Elias ranking, in which case the compensation pick - much as the Yankees signed three Type A free agents this year, and it was the Angels that received their first-round pick for Mark Teixeira, the Brewers who got a second round pick for CC Sabathia and the Blue Jays who received just a third-rounder for A.J. Burnett). The team losing the player would also receive a sandwich-round pick, between the first and second rounds of the draft.

I know … boring! But when laying out the scenario for Varitek next offseason it is important to understand these elements. So again, let’s go off the premise that he puts up his ‘07 numbers. While that would obviously duplicate the same two-year production that got him classified as a Type A this time around, that presumably wouldn’t be the case for next year.

Thanks to USA Today’s site, this is what the Elias rankings for American League catchers looked like this year:

A players

1. Joe Mauer 89.401

2. Victor Martinez 88.018

3. Jorge Posada 84.793

4. A.J. Pierzynski 78.111

5. Jason Varitek 76.037

6. Ramon Hernandez 73.733

B players

7. Dioner Navarro 70.968

8. Ivan Rodriguez 69.585

9. Mike Napoli 68.664

10. Kurt Suzuki 67.051

11. Kenji Johjima 64.977

12. Gregg Zaun 59.447

13. Kelly Shoppach 57.834

OK, which of these names on the Type B will be jumping up with a reasonably solid season by their updated standards? Near locks to do so, in my eyes, are Dioner Navarro and Mike Napoli, with Kurt Suzuki and Kelly Shoppach also likely to leapfrog Varitek. And Type A guys who might drop down (besides Varitek) include Hernandez, who is now in the National League with the Reds, and possibly Posada if he doesn’t bounce back from an injury-plagued ‘08.

So, if Varitek does indeed slip out of the Type A range even with a solid bounce-back year, and neither the team or player options are executed, it is likely that we have a much cleaner free agent pursuit of the catcher. And these are the reasons why:

1. Even if the Red Sox offered Varitek arbitration, his free-agent status would not be compromised. If he is a Type B free agent, then another team could sign him without parting with a draft pick. The Sox would only be entitled to a sandwich-round pick, meaning that the circumstances that completely destroyed the market for his services this year would not exist. It would be a bit of a gamble for the club to offer Varitek arbitration, since he might receive significantly more than the $5 million option that the club holds. But, for the Sox, an overpayment might be worth the risk considering that they would receive a sandwich-round draft pick if he declined arbitration and signed with another team.

2. The Sox could deem the risk of paying Varitek more than what they feel he is worth through the arbitration process unacceptable, even not worth the chance at a draft pick. Simple logic suggests that the Red Sox attach at least a $2.5 million value to such draft picks — as was evidenced by their willingness to pay Varitek an extra $5 million in arbitration (an award of $10 million or more, compared to the $5 million salary they were willing to pay him for 2009) for the chance at a pair of picks this offseason. If the team expected that arbitration would result in a salary of, say, $5 million more than what Varitek was worth, it might deem the potential risk of his accepting arbitration to be greater than the potential reward of either having him return or of the draft pick they would get if he left.

I believe if such a scenario did arise the Red Sox would offer arbitration and Varitek would decline, viewing the offseason after a bounceback year as his last chance for a coveted multi-year deal.

So, to summarize, if Varitek has another down year, he will take his $3 million player option with incentives. If he rebounds with a season like two years ago, the likelihood is that Red Sox choose to activate their own $5 million option. But if he does fall into a category that might make the team shy away from such a $5 million commitment, it is my opinion that he would be offered arbitration, decline it, and you would have seen the last of Jason Varitek in a Red Sox uniform.

Bottom line, there won’t be another 92 days like the ones you just witnessed.

Posted by Rob Bradford

According to a source familiar with the negotiations, the Red Sox and Jason Varitek have agreed to the foundation of a deal which will pay the catcher a guaranteed $5 million for 2009, while allowing for a $5 million team option or a $3 million player option for 2010. Boston.com is also reporting that Varitek can earn up to $2 million in incentives in ‘10. The deal is unofficial until Varitek has a physical next week. 

SI.com was the first to report the preliminary agreement.

Much more later, but until then I give you two of our bloggers viewpoint on the matter, Gary from Chapel Hill and Curt Schilling, presenting the pros and cons of bringing the captain back.

Stats Scott Boras Didn’t Want the Red Sox To See

The Merits of Jason Varitek

And, for more Varitek, see Alex Speier’s story on why the Sox didn’t have a suitable replacement in the minors when this saga came around.

Here is the AP story

Posted by Rob Bradford

The reality of rehab hit Mike Lowell in an uneven way Tuesday.

There was good news — the third baseman swung a bat for the first time since Game 3 of the American League Division Series, taking 50 cuts off of a batting tee.

Then came the bad.

The Red Sox third baseman, who continues to rehab from surgery on his torn hip labrum, received a letter from Lou Melendez, the general manager of the Puerto Rico World Baseball Classic team, yesterday. In the note, which was directed to Lowell’s agents, Sam and Seth Levinson, Melendez informed the 34-year-old that he would not be eligible to play for Puerto Rico in the upcoming WBC.

Melendez explained in the letter that because of Lowell’s Oct. 20 surgery, the Red Sox requesting that the third baseman not participate, and the fact the third baseman wouldn’t meet many of the levels of criteria used to determine availability, he was being taken off Puerto Rico’s list of eligible players. Lowell had originally been put on the club’s provisional roster.

While the news didn’t come as a surprise — the current scheduled progression for Lowell’s rehab suggests he might not be ready to participate in full games by the time Puerto Rico plays it opener on March 7 — it still allowed for some disappointment. Lowell’s father, Carl, is one of the most revered baseball players ever to represent Puerto Rico, having been inducted into the territory’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

RELATED LINKS:

Lowell focused on hip, not rumors

Brady serves as cautionary tale for Lowell

Posted by Rob Bradford

WEEI.com has learned from a source close to the negotiations that the two-year offer made by the Red Sox to catcher Jason Varitek is for $5 million for the first year, along with a club option for $5 million or a $3 million player option for season No. 2 of the deal. It is believed incentives would be part of the agreement. The Red Sox have set a deadline for Varitek to accept the offer, although it is not known what the date has been set.

On Saturday, Buster Olney of ESPN.com (subscriber link) described negotiations between the Red Sox and their long-time catcher as being stalled. Olney described the impasse between the Sox and Varitek (as well as agent Scott Boras) as a result of Varitek’s continued requests for the sort of money that the catcher might have received through salary arbitration:

Here is where they stand in the impasse: Varitek is asking for an annual salary close to the $10-12 million he would’ve made through arbitration, or a two-year deal for less annual salary. The Red Sox are willing to pay him much less than that, and don’t feel they owe him extra cash for services rendered in the past, and they don’t feel they owe it to him to offer a salary commensurate with what Varitek would’ve made if he had accepted arbitration.

Of course, Varitek has little leverage to ask for such a figure, aside from the notion of team loyalty to its captain. There remains no apparent market for the catcher besides the Red Sox’ interest in bringing him back on their own terms. The fact that another team would have to part with a draft pick in order to sign the catcher, coupled with a career-worst offensive season by Varitek in 2008, has rendered known interest from any club besides the Red Sox virtually non-existent. Moreover, the catching market as defined by salary arbitration (a process that is typically slow to account for adjustments in the economic environment) no longer exists.

The four-year, $52.4 million reference point offered by the contract for Yankees catcher Jorge Posada (signed prior to the 2008 season) is no longer the defining contract of the catching market. In a winter when offers have been steadily shrinking, fair-market value at this juncture would seem to be defined by contracts such as those signed by veterans like Brad Ausmus (who went from a $2 million deal in 2008 to a $1 million contract in 2009) and Gregg Zaun (who recently signed for $1.5 million with the Orioles at the end of a two-year contract that paid him $3.625 million per season). That’s two veteran catchers with excellent reputations as handlers of pitching staffs who had to accept salaries of 50 percent or less than what they played for in 2008.

Boras was asked during baseball’s winter meetings (at the beginning of December) whether he anticipated that Varitek would make more in free agency than he would have through the arbitration process that the catcher and agent had just declined. Boras was evasive on the topic:

Obviously, Jason Varitek is a guy who, I think teams know what his value is…He’s going to be employed and do very well. As for whether or not he’s going to do better than in arbitration, in arbitration we could have made a pretty good case for him.

Through this all, the Red Sox have never given any indication that their interest in bringing Varitek (who turns 37 on April 11) back is anything but genuine. Club CEO and President Larry Lucchino reaffirmed that interest on Friday. Now, the Sox have made an offer to back that claim. Whether it will be sufficient to end a complex negotiation with a longtime franchise staple remains to be seen.

For more, the kind folks at NECN posted this:

RELATED CONTENT

Because Data Doesn’

t Lie - By Curt Schilling

Can Jason Varitek Escape His Predicament? - By Alex Speier

Rob Bradford breaks down the two-year offer on the Dale & Holley Show

Why Do These Guys Love Scott Boras? - By Rob Bradford

Penny’s on the Dollar: The Red Sox’

Buy-Low Strategy to the Offseason - By Alex Speier

Posted by Rob Bradford

Former Red Sox first baseman Sean Casey is officially retiring, having signed on with the MLB Network. Casey, The 34-year-old, who played in 69 games with Boston last season, hitting .322, finishes his 12-season career with a .302 lifetime batting average to go along with three All-Star appearances. Casey’s role with the network has yet to be defined.

We at WEEI.com wish him luck, and feel fortunate to be there when this whole media thing began for him …

In other Red Sox news, it was learned that although he has been placed on the initial roster submitted by Japan for the World Baseball Classic, Sox reliever Hideki Okajima will not be participating the event.

Posted by Rob Bradford

Come join us at 2 p.m. to participate in a live chat during today’s Big Show. On today’s show will be Curt Schilling, Glenn Ordway Pete Sheppard, and myself. Our man Alex Speier will be running the chat, posting instant polls, photos, links, and witty barbs. While the participants of the show will be most likely preoccupied entertaining through the airwaves and won’t be immediately available to participate, questions and comments may be able to be answered (and posted on this space) following the event.

Remember, if you are not near a radio, you can always stream WEEI by clicking on the LISTEN LIVE button in the top right corner if you are a WEEI Clubhouse Insider!