Will he stay or will he go?

Money, money, money, money, money [6x]
Some people got to have it
Some people really need it
Listen to me y’all, do things
Do things, do bad things with it
You wanna do things, do things
Do things, good things with it
Talk about cash money, money
Talk about cash money
Dollar bills, yall

For the Love of Money by The Ojays

As I said at midnight, let the bidding begin for the free agents out there. For the Boston Red Sox, it’s now a chance to see what other offers Jason Varitek will get out on the open market. The Red Sox have made Varitek one of their top priorities of the offseason given the light catcher’s market.

“He’s an important part of the organization — there’s no doubt about that,” Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said recently. “Obviously, he’s coming off a year that wasn’t his best, but he’s important nonetheless. Now he’s a free agent and we’ll be talking to him. We have an obligation to explore all our options. We do that with every position.”

“There’s not a lot of elite catching out there,” Epstein said. “But at the same time, that changes the standards for what you’re looking for. What we like to do is be league average at every position and then be way above league average at as many positions as we can. We try to have no weak links and be at least league average at every position. So with the state of catching, what is league average? It’s well documented that there’s not a lot of elite catching out there, but we’ll figure it out.”

I really don’t see Varitek leaving the Red Sox. What I see is Scott Boras trying to milk every last cent out of the Red Sox to get Varitek signed though. I think the Red Sox end up giving him a 2-year $20 million deal with an option for a 3rd year.

Dustin Pedroia is making his presence felt in Boston.

DeMarlo Hale was in Seattle yesterday interviewing for the vacant Mariners managerial job.

The Red Sox could learn within the next week on whether or not they lose Brad Mills or Hale to the Mariners.

Salem Avalanche assistant GM John Katz talks about the Red Sox move to Virginia.

Curt Schilling checks in at 38 Pitches with his thoughts about Jason Varitek.

Here’s a look at how the Red Sox minor leaguers are doing in the various winter leagues.

Update: The Red Sox Single-A team in Salem, VA has been renamed from the Salem Avalanche to the Salem Red Sox.

Steve and I will be here to provide you with updates during the day if anything breaks on Varitek or any of the other free agents as well.