BOSTON, 26 December 2004 — World Series champions Boston welcome back a familiar man behind the plate in free agent catcher Jason Varitek, who inked a four-year Major League Baseball deal worth $40 million, the club announced Friday.
The Red Sox will have three new pitchers imported from National League clubs as they try to defend their American League crown as well as their first World Series title since 1918, making 32-year-old Varitek a key man to retain.
The switch-hitter set career highs in batting average at .296 and on-base percentage at .390 while producing 18 home runs and batting in 73 runs last season. But his skills as a team leader and top defender are equally crucial.
Boston’s 2005 rotation will feature lefthander David Wells and right-handers Matt Clement and Wade Miller, all free agents who signed earlier this month.
Varitek, pitchers Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe and shortstop Orlando Cabrera were the top free agents from Boston’s first championship team in 86 years but it appears Varitek will be the only one returning next season.
The Red Sox lost Martinez, who signed a four-year deal worth $53 million with the New York Mets last week after spurning a three-year offer worth $40 million from Boston.
Cabrera signed a four-year deal worth $32 million with Anaheim and Lowe is not expected to be re-signed. Varitek, obtained with Lowe from Seattle in 1997 for relief pitcher Heathcliff Slocumb, has hit .271 with 97 homers and driven in 418 over 832 games with Boston. In 2003, he set career highs with 25 homers and 85 runs batted in.
Ex-Major League Baseball Manager Oates Dead at 58
In Richmond, Virginia, Johnny Oates, a former Major League Baseball player and manager, died early Friday of brain cancer. He was 58. Oates was diagnosed with a brain tumor in October of 2001 and told he had only four months to live if he decided not to have surgery. A month later, he underwent a procedure and was declared cancer-free. But an exam in March 2003 showed two cancerous tumors in his brain. Oates managed the Texas Rangers to their first three playoff appearances and shared 1996 American League Manager of the Year honors with Joe Torre of the New York Yankees. Oates went 797-746 as a manager of the Baltimore Orioles from 1991-1994 and Texas from 1995 through 2001, when he resigned after an 11-17 start.
