Boras: Sox made an offer to Varitek
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LAS VEGAS - With the catching market shrinking by the minute - winter meetings deals for Gerald Laird and Ramon Hernandez already in the books - there was at least one person in the Bellagio Hotel who remained confident Jason Varitek would find an opportunity somewhere. That was his agent, Scott Boras.
Boras said yesterday that the Red Sox have made an offer to Varitek, though he would not comment on what it was, or whether the catcher has multiple offers on the table.
"When a major league team approaches you about a player and offers them a contract, I guess that's serious," he said. "I think that Tek has always been a person - he's the captain of a team in the major leagues, which is a rare event. And certainly, Boston has let us know, 'We want him back.'
"We're talking about it, but we also have to go out and look into other situations that might be [available] to him."
"We don't comment on specific negotiations and offers," Sox general manager Theo Epstein said. "We're in contact with Scott about Jason. That's accurate."
But with Varitek's leverage down considerably, that doesn't mean any offer Boston has put on the table is attractive. It would seem unlikely the Sox would go beyond a one-year deal - which would be particularly attractive to them - without another team in the mix for Varitek's services. Right now, there's no guarantee there will be anyone else after Varitek hit .220 in 2008, his worst offensive year.
"I'm not going to talk about values but, obviously, Jason Varitek is a guy that I think teams know what his value is," Boras said. "I think it's clear he's going to be employed and do very well."
Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said in recent days that Los Angeles would have considered Varitek, but "we didn't spend much time on it when we learned it wouldn't be a crash course, it would be a degree program."
The other problem for Varitek and Boras was the offer of arbitration from the Sox, which knocked out potential suitors, such as the Tigers, according to GM Dave Dombrowski. Though it would almost certainly have guaranteed him more than his $10 million 2008 salary - since players almost always get a raise in arbitration - Boras said he never considered accepting the offer, which means any team that signs the Type A free agent must give up a first-round pick. That narrowed the field quite a bit.
"The catching market is probably the hardest one to predict, particularly for journalists," Boras said. "Because the fact is teams that have existing catchers don't come out and say that they're unhappy with their catchers because they can't find better catchers.
"So until they know they can acquire a catcher, they often don't let you know that there's an opening."
Smoltz interested?
John Smoltz wants to pitch for a team that could take him to the World Series. He hopes that's still the Atlanta Braves, the team for whom he has pitched since 1988. But the 41-year-old free agent is considering the Red Sox, the Mets, and his hometown Tigers as possible destinations, according to a major league source.While his agent, Keith Grunewald, would not confirm Smoltz's preferences, he did say he's sent out videos of the righthander's recent throwing session to preferred teams and has sent his medical records. Smoltz underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in June.
"He threw all of his pitches, curveball, slider, splitter. He looked great," said Grunewald, who said Smoltz would prefer to be a starter.
Smoltz, the 1996 National League Cy Young Award winner, has 210 victories, 154 saves, and a 3.26 ERA in his stellar career.
Not so fast on Lowe
Though there were reports Derek Lowe was close to signing with the Yankees, they seemed preliminary. "Derek Lowe wants to play for a winning club, a contending club," Boras said. "There are a number of clubs that fill that bill for him." . . . One piece that might not be part of a Mark Teixeira deal for the Sox would be an opt-out clause. Though it seems to be the hot item in recent deals, Epstein didn't mince words in describing his distaste for such clauses. The Sox also have a policy against no-trades in contracts. "We'd be strongly opposed to it," he said.Mariners deal Putz to Mets
The Mets obtained J.J. Putz from Seattle as part of a three-team, 12-player trade that gives them a setup man for new closer Francisco Rodriguez, whose three-year, $37 million free agent deal was finalized yesterday. The Mets dealt seven players - six to the Mariners and one to Cleveland - to get three back in a huge swap. The Mets shipped reliever Aaron Heilman, outfielder Endy Chavez, lefthander Jason Vargas and three minor leaguers to the Mariners for Putz, center fielder Jeremy Reed and reliever Sean Green in the first trade by new Seattle general manager Jack Zduriencik. Promising outfielder Franklin Gutierrez was sent from the Indians to Seattle. Cleveland gets reliever Joe Smith from the Mets and 23-year-old second baseman Luis Valbuena from Seattle . . . Free agent closer Kerry Wood must pass a physical before signing a two-year, $20 million deal with Cleveland . . . The Tigers acquired righthander Edwin Jackson from the Rays for outfielder Matt Joyce . . . Davey Johnson was selected to manage the United States in the second World Baseball Classic next spring . . .Nick Cafardo of the Globe staff contributed from Las Vegas; material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
