The Boston Red Sox made the Jason Varitek deal official today when they announced that had signed him to a 1 year, $5 million deal with dual options for 2010.
As we found out last week, the options for Varitek are a club option of $5 million for 2010 or a player option for $3 million with another $2 million in incentives for games played. He’d receive $400,000 each for starts 80, 90, 100, 110, and 120, for a maximum of $2 million if the player option is exercised.
1B/OF Jeff Bailey was outrighted to Pawtucket and he refused the assignment making him a free agent. He then re-signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox with an invitation to big league spring training.
The Red Sox will now head to camp with Varitek as the starting catcher. Josh Bard, Dusty Brown and George Kottaras will compete to be his backup. It’s also quite conceivable that the Red Sox could still try to acquire another catcher in the likes of Jarrod Saltalamacchia or Miguel Montero.
