| 03 December 2010
The Red Sox offered Victor Martinez a 4-year, $42 million deal, but lost him to the Tigers for $50 mil.
With limited alternatives on the Free Agent market, the Sox have re-signed Jason Varitek to a 1-year deal worth $2 million and $100K in incentives for games played.
Tek hit .323 with 4 homers in April last year, but finished at .232/.766 and 7 ding dongs. He'll join Jarod Saltalamacchia behind the plate in 2010. Salty hit .233/.661 with 9 homers through 84 games in 2009, but tallied just 24 major league at-bats in 2010.
V-Mart hit .302 with 20 homers and 79 RBI for the Red Sox in 2011 and will act as the DH in Detroit.
The drop off in production here is epic.
So here's my question: If the Sox were willing to give Martinez 4 x $42M... why wouldn't they just match the Detroit offer and keep him here in Boston?
Right now they look cheap... and it's going to get worse. It's going to take 5 years and $60 million to keep Adrian Beltre at 3B. Since the Sox let Martinez walk, I doubt they'll overpay for Beltre. If they do, you could argue that they valued Beltre more than V-Mart, but if the plan is to save money and go after Albert Pujols or Adrian Gonzalez in 2012... keeping Beltre AND Youkilis doesn't make much sense.
Unless the plan is to make Beltre, Youk or A-Gon the DH in 2012 when Ortiz is done.
Maybe that is the plan. If it is... I'm on board. But I'm finding it hard to trust Theo & Co. right now.
Bottom Line: If the plan is to save money and make a big move in 2012, I don't see them Sox signing Beltre AND Carl Crawford or Jayson Werth. My guess is we get Beltre at 3B and some young OFs over the next 3-5 years or we get Crawford and Jed Lowrie at 3B for the next 3-5 years.
And that's assuming the Sox make a legit run at Pujols, Gonzalez or Fielder for 1B in 2012.
What would you guys prefer?
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