ESPN's Buster Onley says CC Sabathia, who will be sitting down with the Red Sox and Yankees today or tomorrow, may want to wait for Mark Teixeira to sign first. If the Angels don't land Sabathia, they could be expected to compete with the Yankees $140MM offer.Olney adds that the Sox hope to sign Kevin Youkilis and Jon Lester long-term, in the wake of the Dustin Pedroia deal. Peter Gammons suggested a deal for Youkilis could get done quickly.
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Ken Rosenthal explains why the idea of Sabathia signing with the Red Sox is not far-fetched. He notes that free agent markets in years to come may not offer a pitcher of Sabathia's character.
Both Teixeira and Sabathia fit the Sox's preference for younger free agents, but Epstein almost certainly would not go to six years on Sabathia, which is what the Yankees offered. Yet, the Sox gave right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka a six-year deal at 26. And they've shown interest in another free-agent right-hander, A.J. Burnett, who is looking for five.
"There will be pitchers signed to free-agent deals who go on and are worth every penny and more, dominate for years to come," Epstein told the Boston media this week. "We're interested in a lot of those pitchers, but we have an approach and we'll probably stick with it."
Halfway through his column on free agents expected to decline arbitration, Ken Rosenthal buries this interesting nugget:
Some rival agents**...believe that Boras might be offering [Jason] Varitek in a "package deal" with the catcher's friend and fellow Georgia Tech alum, free-agent first baseman Mark Teixeira. The Red Sox are pursuing Teixeira, and the Nationals are among the other teams that might have interest in both players.
It's not the first time that Boras has been accused of packaging his players, and it's not the first time those rumors have concerned the Red Sox: when Boston signed J.D. Drew, there was a raft of unsubstantiated talk that Drew had been packaged with Daisuke Matsuzaka -- in whom the Red Sox had already sunk $51.1MM for negotiating rights.
**As always, consider the source.
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Arbitration could work for both Jason Varitek and the Red Sox, suggests Sean McAdam.
For Varitek, the promise of salary arbitration would guarantee that he would be paid no less than the $10 million he earned last season, the last year of his four-year, $40 million contract with the Sox.
Though a one-year deal falls far short of Varitek’s desire for one more long-term contract as he nears the end of his career, it would offer him the opportunity to rebuild his value with a bounce-back season. If Varitek could show that 2008 was an aberration - as agent Scott Boras has suggested - he could re-enter the market after the 2009 season in a better bargaining position and, likely, in an improved economic climate.
From the Red Sox’ standpoint, retaining Varitek through arbitration would solve their short-term vacancy behind the plate and provide them with at least one more season of continuity at the catcher position.
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Lastly, ESPN's Keith Law breaks down his Top 10 Free Agents... Teixeira, C.C. and Manny round out the Top 3 spots.
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