The general consensus in Tiger Town seems to be "thumbs down" on signing Jason Varitek as a free agent. At least judging from the comments in our post from last night.
But elsewhere in the Tigersosphere, there's not much support for this move, either.
For the time being, I am willing to throw out his 2006 season because he was suffering from a bad knee that year, and he has had surgery to correct that. There isn't, however, anything to justify the poor season he had in 2008 aside from the fact that he was 36 years old during the season. It seems likely that he has lost his skills, and he's not worthy of a starting job, especially when he is only throwing out 22% of baserunners.
My argument is this. Rosenthal states that the Tigers booming offense can carry the load of Varitek's weak bat? But isn't this what got us in trouble last year? The pitching staff needs work! Nah, the offense can fix it. Our defense is suspect! Nah, we'll score 43 runs tonight. Varitek can't hit his way out of a paper bag anymore! It's cool. Miggy will hit nine homeruns.
Boras, according to a rival executive, is trying to sell catcher Jason Varitek to the Tigers as a replacement for another of his clients, Ivan Rodriguez. The idea is not without merit; the Tigers' lineup is strong enough to carry Varitek's declining offense, and his defense and leadership would greatly benefit their pitching staff.
Just because Boras is making the big pitch doesn't necessarily mean the Tigers are interested, however. But the feelings on this one seem to be pretty clear.