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Joe Girardi praises Varitek

Print | Comments () Posted by Peter Abraham, Globe Staff February 28, 2012 03:03 PM

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By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff

Yankees manager Joe Girardi, a former catcher, had this to say to reporters in Tampa about the retirement of Jason Varitek:

“He was a big part of their club, the way he ran that pitching staff and being a switch hitter that produced offensively. I thought he was a big part of their club, just like Jorge [Posada] was. The unfortunate thing is, when you have great players like that, the unfortunate thing is they get older. You can’t keep them 25, 26 their whole career because we all love having them around.”

On Varitek as a catcher: “Outstanding. Very smart back there. Good defensive catcher. Really knew how to handle a pitching staff.”