| 19 September 2009
I'm willing to bet that Terry Francona was pretty thrilled when he heard that Theo Epstein ahd made a trade for Victor Martinez back in July. But I'm also pretty sure he lost some sleep that night wondering how he was going to fit V-Mart into the lineup, and more specifically, how Jason Varitek was going to handle sharing time behind the plate.
Though his brain is probably mush at this point, Tito has managed to juggle the lineup on a daily basis while posting a 27-17 (61 W%) record. He's also managed to get Martinez in almost every game while cutting Varitek's playing time in half... without any major sulking from Tek or other guys like Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz.
But with Martinez in Cleveland dealing with a personal matter this past week, we were reminded why Jason Varitek should no longer be the everyday catcher. Infact... it's becoming harder and harder to justify playing him at all.
With three straight starts against the Angels this week, Tek went 0 for 8 with 3 Ks and 1 BB. He's become Lugo-esque in his ability to hit into double plays and ground outs and his two past balls in that series were big - even if they were as much the pitcher's fault as his own.
So what will Tito do when an inning ending ground out becomes a SEASON ending gound out? Tito gave us a glimpse of his willingnesss to bench Varitek in a crucial situation when he pinch hit for Tek in the 9-8 walk off over the Halos. But I'm wondering of Vartiek should even be starting a game in the post season...
The one argument I can agree with is a possible Daisuke Matsuzaka start. Should the Red Sox need him as a fourth starter in a 7-game series, I would prefer that Varitek be catching Dice-K due the language barrier and Tek's familiarity with Matsuzaka's "nibble the strike zone" approach.
But the idea that Varitek NEEDS to catch Josh Beckett and possibly Jon Lester as well is simply foolish. Beckett has collected one win in his last seven starts and posted a 6.32 ERA in the process. Varitek caught 6 of those 7 starts. And when Beckett had a mediocre 2008 season, posting a 12-10 record and a 4.03 ERA, it was Varitek that did the catching.
My point is... good pitchers don't need a "great game caller" to win or pitch well. If their stuff is good that day, they will pitch well, if their slider stays up in the zone or the curve isn't snapping, it doesn't matter who's catching the ball, the pitcher is going to struggle.
Bottom Line: Victor Martinez needs to be in the lineup for every postseason game. If some needs to sit to make that happen, it should be Varitek.
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