The Red Sox have claimed right-handed pitcher Robert Manuel off waivers from the Seattle Mariners, putting their 40-man roster at 32 players. The deadline for setting teams’ 40-man rosters is at midnight Friday. The Sox aren’t expected to make any more additions before the deadline.

Manuel, 26, made his Major League debut with the Cincinnati Reds in 2009, tossing 4.1 innings of scoreless relief over three games.  He began the season with Cincinnati’s Triple-A Louisville affiliate, going 3-4 with 10 saves and a 2.70 ERA (14 ER/46.2 IP) in 36 relief outings over two stints with the Bats.  Manuel was traded to Seattle on July 29 in exchange for outfielder Wladimir Balentien and finished the season with Triple-A Tacoma, going 1-1 with four saves and a 3.32 ERA (7 ER/19.0 IP) in 15 appearances.  His .207 combined opponent batting average between Louisville and Tacoma was eighth-best among all Triple-A relievers.

Originally signed by the New York Mets as a non-drafted free agent on June 17, 2005, Manuel has combined for a 24-17 record with 19 saves and a 2.88 ERA (118 ER/368.1 IP) in 169 minor league games (23 starts) over five seasons in the Mets, Reds and Mariners systems.  The right-hander has compiled 339 strikeouts compared to 66 walks.

]]> http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2009/11/20/red-sox-claim-former-mariners-pitcher/feed/ http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2009/11/20/chasing-jason-bay/ http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2009/11/20/chasing-jason-bay/#comments Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:10:19 +0000 Rob Bradford http://fullcount.weei.com/?p=19976 Now that the exclusive negotiating period has come and gone for the Red Sox, the reality of who will be bidding for Jason Bay’s services starts to get clearer.

Before we get to those teams who are, and aren’t, interested in entering the fray, one thing that should be noted as this process unfolds is that Bay isn’t entering into free agency tip-toeing on eggshells. All anybody had to do was read a couple of Bay’s comments since the end of the Sox’ season to understand this.

Here’s what he said immediately after the Red Sox’ final game of the 2009 season: “I’m actually looking forward to it,” Bay said of his first foray into free agency. “I was looking forward to it after winning a World Series, or at least going further than this, but everybody, I don’t want to say ‘plays to get to this point,’ but it’s something new and something interesting … It’s tough to go out on these terms, but I guess the second part of my season is this offseason and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s out there and seeing how the process goes.”

And there was this line from the live chat Bay conducted on WEEI.com: “There isn’t one important factor. The funny thing is that everybody has an opinion of what I’m waiting for or what I’m doing and I don’t even have an opinion, and that’s the truth.”

Bay is looking forward to this process, and, as he suggested, is diving in with an open mind. For the 31-year-old who has waited his whole professional life to have this kind of opportunity, the fun has just begun. So, one day, in, this is what we know in regards to some of the teams that are (and aren’t) interested in the free agent outfielder:

Red Sox: They’ve doubled the financial part of their proposal — going from an initial offer of three years, $30 million to four years, $60 million — but didn’t come close to buying out Bay’s right to experiencing the open market. They like him, perhaps as much as anybody, as their willingness to put Bay at the top of the team’s payroll would suggest. But … all together now … all it takes is one team to jump in with the kind of love that the Sox aren’t willing to show. One thing to keep an eye on is if, or when, the Sox decide to slap a deadline on the decision. They did it with Mike Lowell (who signed his deal exactly two years ago, Friday), and with Jason Varitek last year. The thinking is that the Sox need to know which way Bay is going to go because Plan B or Plan C (whatever they might be) won’t be viable options forever.

Angels: Other than the Yankees, this is the team that could present the most problems when it comes to the Red Sox re-signing Bay. Not only do they have the kind of money that would allow for a legitimate run at a top tier free agent (remember, they were also in the Mark Teixeira and C.C. Sabathia bidding until near the end last year), but now their owner has proclaimed that LA will be a player for Bay’s services. Arte Moreno told the Los Angeles Times Thursday that not only is his team interested in Bay, but that the Angels have no interest in the other free agent big ticket item, Matt Holliday. Would anybody be surprised to see Angels approaching $17 million per year in their offer to Bay this offseason? And is that a number the Red Sox are willing to go to?

Mets: You know they have money, and they also fit the model in terms of the type of team that would value what Bay brings to the table. It has been well-documented that Bay’s detractors point to defensive metrics that don’t paint a pretty picture. (Although Bay’s agent, Joe Urbon, not only pointed out the flip-side to that argument when talking to WEEI.com, but said just a few days ago that no team he had talked to has brought up concerns regarding any of the outfielder’s defensive deficiencies.) So why does that concern the perception we might have in regards to the Mets’ interest in Bay? Check out this quote from New York GM Omar Minaya at the general managers meetings last week: “Defense is important because it’s a pretty big ballpark. But the bottom line is that if you’re a corner outfielder you’ve got to have slug,” Minaya said. “I would put offense over defense right now in a corner outfielder.” Interesting …

Giants: Not interested. At least that’s what their GM, Brian Sabean said this week. Sabean told reporters following the Tim Lincecum Cy Young press conference that his team wasn’t about to get in a race it didn’t have a chance at winning. “”We’ve contacted who we think is going to have mutual interest,” Sabean said. “We’re not going to be involved with people that are going to use us on the way to something else. If there’s legitimate mutual interest, we’ll have meaningful talks. Quite frankly, there are a lot of nice opportunities with that second tier. There are some people who are going to help, maybe in some cases just as well as the higher-priced free agents.”

Cardinals: Also reportedly not (that) interested. St. Louis clearly wants to re-sign Holliday, but it doesn’t look like Bay is their primary back-up plan. “”We’ll see how the market develops,” St. Louis general manager Mozeliak told reporters. “Is (Jason Bay) a possibility? Sure. But right now it’s fair to say he’s not one of our top priorities.”

Mariners: This one could be interesting. There is an obvious link considering the Seattle area is where Bay makes his home in the offseason, and the Mariners’ outfield’s combined OPS was horrific last year. But the flip-side is that Seattle, more than most any other team, has made outfield defense a priority. The combination of Ichiro Suzuki, Franklin Gutierrez and Endy Chavez paid dividends last season. Perhaps, with Gutierrez and Suzuki still in the mix, the Mariners find some middle ground and see a Bay acquisition as a happy medium.

Blue Jays: Yes, Bay is Canadian. (As he points out, full Canadian, and half American after gaining his U.S. citizenship this year.) But when you’re talking about competing in the free agent market with the big boys, the Blue Jays won’t have a chance. This we know: The outfielder will prioritize the certainty of winning of national pride.

Yankees: Stay tuned …

There will be more teams, rumors and reason, but this is what we have for now. Bay’s second season has officially begun.

“Very much so,” Lucchino said when asked if the Red Sox wanted the outfielder back. “We’d love to have him back. He’s in many ways the personification of a player we want here.”

The Red Sox’ exclusive period to negotiate with Bay runs out at midnight Thursday.

Henry Schulman writes in his blog entry:

Sabean essentially said he refuses to be a “stalking horse” for any player who is just using the Giants to get more money elsewhere, and that the Giants will talk only to free agents who have a genuine interest in coming to San Francisco.

He said he doubts Bay and Holliday will have genuine interest because the Yankees, Red Sox and other bigger-market teams will be chasing them.

“If I’m Boston and I have money to spend, I’m going to sign Bay and trade for Felix Hernandez or Halladay. ”

“Halladay makes all the sense in the world.”

“The beauty of it is from Boston’s angle, and I’m not as versed in this … If I’m Boston, I would end up at the trading deadline package, because I think that’s a slight dump for them now. And I don’t want to get into a bidding war with prospects. I would give them three foundational players to bring a Halladay in here, because I think that makes you a perennial 100-win team and a potential October lock with the three of those guys.”

Halladay makes all the sense in the World. What would you give up for him?

“I think it’s going to take three marquee, franchise prospect names. I think you’re looking at a Buchholz, a Kelly, somebody else. I don’t know how they feel about them. … I think what helps right now is [Jed Hoyer] being in San Diego. … I think it’s an advantage and a disadvantage for both sides, in that he understands the value that Boston has in its prospects. He knows exactly who to ask for in a potential deal for Adrian Gonzalez.”

“But I feel like you’re moving potential pieces around to make that happen, as opposed to a Bay and a Holliday filling in some holes. If you bring Gonzalez here, you’re looking at moving Mike [Lowell] or DHing him. I’m not sure you want to platoon Ortiz and Lowell at the DH spot, the third base spot, and all the things that go along with that.”

[Bay – if you don’t get him, Boras will have the hammer]

“This is [Boras’] Super Bowl. He milks it for everything, obviously to the benefit of his players. But the benefit of his players is not always to the benefit of the game.”

[Where will Bay end up?]
“It really depends. I will never in my life discount the Yankees from anything ever, again. The hard part, when they get into the bidding, is not necessarily the dollars, but it’s always the years. They always seem to be willing to go one more year than anyone else. I think Theo has made it very clear that they don’t mind paying market value for a player as long as they’re not paying for that player longer than he’s useful to the club. They feel the years are a much bigger piece of the pie than the whole dollars thing. ”

On Matt Holliday
“I don’t agree that Matt can be the player in the American League that he was in the National League. I put a lot of weight in the fact that he didn’t perform as well [in Oakland]. ”

“A big ballpark, to me, couldn’t affect your batting average as much. Obviously, there’s more foul territory there and it does have some impact. But I don’t know that he’s the impact player with the numbers that he was in the National League over here in the American League.”

[Know what you have with Bay. Holliday is unknown. And Boras.]

“If I’m going to go out and spend the years and the money that we’re talking about spending, I don’t want to have any questions. I would argue that the slump Jason went through last year was every bit an aberration. I’ve seen him. I’ve competed against him. It was an unusually long slump for many different seasons. I don’t think you can expect that, year-in, year-out. At the end of the day, I’m looking at a guy who I know is playing in this market, who can perform in October, who at the end of the season is going to be 30 and 110. I’m confident that offensively he’s going to be a better player next year than he was last year.”

David Ortiz saw buddy Alex Rodriguez win a World Series this year with a loaded Yankees roster, now Ortiz would like some help in the Red Sox lineup. (AP file)

David Ortiz met with the media in the interview room at Fenway Park Thursday afternoon to talk about his upcoming Second Annual David Ortiz Celebrity Golf Classic, along with the event’s auction, both of which will benefit the David Ortiz Children’s Fund. (The charity provides children in New England and the Dominican Republic access to the pediatric critical care they need for full and productive lives.)

Ortiz also touched on a variety of subjects, including one he brought up at a similar press conference at this time last year — whether or not the Red Sox need another big bat in the middle of their lineup. Last year Ortiz went on record as saying it should have been a priority. This time around?

“I say that like a year ago and everybody looked at me like I was a [expletive] clown. I say, ‘We need another 30-home-run-hitting guy.’ ‘What, you crazy!’ Everybody talking trash. Now what?” Ortiz said. “Everybody will always welcome a 30-home-run-hitting player. Every time, every situation. You want to compete with those guys across the street, you better bring it, period.”

The question was then asked if the acquiring a middle-of-the-order back would remain of the utmost importance even if the Red Sox re-sign Jason Bay.

“I’m going to leave that up to you. You’re the one with the power of the pen,” Ortiz said. “We always need help. We always need guys capable to produce. That’s what everybody chase in the offseason, a guy who can come in and supply powers, RBIs. This is a team that’s playing in this division. Everything is powerful right here. You’ve got the world champions in the East. You’ve got Tampa Bay in the East. You’ve got the Blue Jays getting stronger every year in the East. You’ve got Baltimore who you don’t know if they’re going to come kick your [butt] all year round in the East. So, you better get ready to play in the East.”

One subject that Ortiz also talked about at length was his approach to this offseason, which will include him starting hitting nearly two months earlier than last year. The designated hitter will head to the Dominican Republic Friday to continue his workouts, which he explained will be similar to the offseasons when he wasn’t hampered by injury.

“I always do that,” Ortiz said. “I try and get myself exercising. I’m a big guy. I’m a guy who no way can sit down and watch TV and eat. I hate to come the following year and people start to say I’m overweight, not in shape, and too old. You have to take responsibility in whatever you do, and especially at your job. I know that I don’t want to be going through that. I just maintain myself, working out, doing things, burning calories, trying to stay in good habits so when you come to the hard work the following year, it’s easy.”

Something he wanted to make clear, however, was that is commitment to his health had nothing to do with the fact that he is going into the last guaranteed year of his contract.

“I always look at my last year like my first one because what I’m doing right now I’m doing every year. I don’t want you guys to think I’m doing what I’m doing right now because it’s the last year of my contract and I’ve got to put it together,” he said. “No, I do this every year. Every year after the season I continue working because I want to bring my best to the field.”

As for Ortiz’ reaction to Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein’s comments after the season that the team needed the DH — who turned 34 years old Wednesday — the player seemed to have little concern.

“I’ve always been a force here. I’ve always been the guy that this ballclub counts on. I know that for a fact. I’m going to prepare myself and come back and try to do it again,” Ortiz explained.

“This year is going to be the one year where is going to be a lot of expectations around here. I hear a lot of people talking about this ballclub needs to get younger, this ballclub needs to this, this ballclub needs to do that. As long I know the Red Sox, the Red Sox have had veteran players around. You never have a team out there under the [average] age of 30, that I remember. I’m not saying having young players around is a bad thing, but veteran players know how to deal with pressure and things like that.

“Comments doesn’t make anything better. What you do will make things better … I’m just going to go back to the basics. What I normally like to do. One thing nobody can take away from you is your bat. If anybody takes my bat away from me, I won’t be able to play because that’s the only thing I do.”

“It will last as long as it lasts, until one side does something different. I think this part of the process is important to him, so he’ll see what it’s like, see what’s out there and ultimately make a decision,” said Epstein, who said the two sides have maintained dialogue throughout the two-week period following the completion of the World Series.

“That’s not up to us. I think all along we maintained it was likely he was going to see what was out there.”

A report on SI.com suggested Bay turned down the Red Sox latest offer of four years, $60 million.

As Thursday rolls into Friday at the stroke of midnight, the free-agent period will get underway in earnest, with clubs free to present players with contract offers for the first time. The offseason thus enters a new period, where the likes of Jason Bay, John Lackey and Matt Holliday will start to get a true sense of their worth on the open market.

As ever, the Red Sox promise to be a key player in the coming winter. As manager Terry Francona suggested during his appearance on the Dale & Holley Show on Wednesday, in referring to Bay, “You know we’re going to be a major player — we always are.”

There’s plenty to digest, and WEEI.com’s Lou Merloni, Rob Bradford and Alex Speier will be in the Virtual Pressbox on Thursday, November 19, at noon, to take your questions about how the offseason is shaping up. Join them in the sixth installment of the WEEI.com Thursday baseball chat series.

PREVIOUS CHATS

Nov. 12 — Hot Stove Chat with Bradford and Speier

Nov. 5 — Former Red Sox GM Dan Duquette

Oct. 29 — Red Sox outfielder Jason Bay

Oct. 22 — Red Sox hitting coach Dave Magadan

Oct. 15 — Red Sox director of amateur scouting Jason McLeod

The interview will be available to hear on demand on the Dale & Holley Audio on Demand page. A transcript of highlights is below.

Where are you in the offseason?

We did some [coaching staff] interviews. We had some good interviews last week.

We obviously need to get our staff in order. That will take care of itself probably itself pretty soon. Then we have the free-agent process, which is obviously very important, and will be a long, slow, winding road. We’ve got a lot to do, and a lot of time to do it.

What is the status of the coaching staff?

We interviewed last week Ron Johnson, our Triple-A manager, who was very deserving of the interview, and Tom Goodwin who has been coordinating our outfield and baserunning in our minor leagues, who was very, very impressive. Not very experienced, but very impressive. Gary DiSarcina is certainly in the mix. Rob Leary is a guy whose name came up and needs to be in the mix.

Some of that is going to depend on – we have DeMarlo [Hale], we have [Tim Bogar] – we’re just trying to have the best staff we can, and one decision might affect the next.

Does the familiarity of a Ron Johnson help his candidacy?

He mentioned in his interview, out of the 40 guys on our 40-man roster, he’s had 22 of them the last couple years. Sure it’s helpful.

We really wanted to hire from within. I’ve been here long enough now. We need to promote from within when we can. There are a lot of good candidates outside of the organization. Their names came up. I think it’s important for us to promote from within, and we’re certainly going to do that.

Do you believe the Gold Glove reflects the most deserving defensive players or is it a popularity contest and/or something driven by offensive performance? Specifically, how did you view Derek Jeter winning the Gold Glove versus Elvis Andrus.

I actually think that’s a pretty good point you make. I’m probably of the mindset that Jeter had a very good year defensively. I really do think he did. Elvis Andrus had a spectacular year.

I think we tried as a staff to give it some time. We didn’t just want to have the ballots show up and write in some names. There have been some things that happened from time to time. I remember one year Rafael Palmeiro got the Gold Glove, and I think he only played first base for 28 games. That’s not good.

The thing you have to remember, sometimes you see guys on SportsCenter make spectacular plays. That doesn’t mean necessarily that they’re a Gold Glove candidate. The other thing you alluded to, and I think you’re right, is that reputation comes into play. Sometimes, in this league, staffs, coaches, managers are a little bit wary of voting a guy in in his first, second year. They want to see him earn it and see it over time. It’s kind of like making the All-Star team.

Would Jason Varitek make a good coach?

I don’t think yet. I wouldn’t approach him with that. I don’t think he would like that one.

I saw Tek the other day. I think he’s in a good place. I think he’s going to do a good job. I’ve said this a lot of times: he has that ‘C’ on his chest for a reason.
Victor is going to catch the majority of games. How much, we don’t know.

I think Tek can be an unbelievable backup catcher. Because his body can’t handle catching 140 games anymore, that doesn’t mean, if you run him out there less than that, especially from the right side – by the time July rolled around this year, he had 13, 14 home runs. You’re not going to find backup catchers who have that ability, that game-calling experience. He kind of gets run into the ground physically. He’s caught a lot of games. Some of that is my responsibility, too. But I think that in the situation we have, hopefully, upcoming, he can really excel in that.

Do you think his clubhouse role changes with decreased playing time?

I don’t think so, and I think a lot of that is because of Jason. If he didn’t accept that, then it could have been a problem. I don’t see that happening. I saw him the other day. He was about as fired up as I’ve seen him. Last year, that’s a tough thing to not play. I don’t care who you are, whether you’re good enough or not, to have someone come and tell you that somebody is taking your playing time is hard to take. I never saw Jason put himself ahead of the team. I didn’t expect him to walk to the clubhouse and lead the cheers for not playing. At the same time, he never let that get in the way of his caring for the team of helping Victor. Again, that’s part of the reason he has the C on his chest. He’s lived up to that. I know he will continue to.

Do you see Jason Bay re-signing?

I know I’m not in the minority when I say I hope so. I don’t want to make Theo’s job harder than it is. If I’m out there politicking for a guy, that doesn’t help Theo do his job.

You have to be patient. As fans, as the manager, you want things to happen now. We want to have our team in place now. It’s not going to happen. It’s going to take time.

He has earned the right to be a free agent. This is his first time, and he wants to see it through. You know we’re going to be a major player. We always are.

Do I hope it gets done? Yeah. I bet you Jason Bay hopes it gets done. But he’s going to have other options, too.

Are you open to going on free-agent recruiting trips?

We’ve actually done some of those things in the past, just a little more under the radar. John Farrell and some guys went down to see Smoltz. During the Teixeira thing…We’ve done a lot more of that than people realize. We just don’t publicize it.

Is adding a starting pitcher more valuable than a middle-of-the-order hitter?

Every time Theo talks to me, I always say get a pitcher. I know we need to score runs. When you don’t pitch, you certainly make life a lot more difficult for the whole team. When you have a well-pitched game, even when you go into the seventh or eighth inning, you have a chance. When you don’t pitch, the game looks sloppy. A lot of balls in the gap, more cutoffs and relays, you have more errors. There’s more plays to be made.

When you have solid pitching, and sometimes past solid into spectacular, that’s when your team really has a chance, not only in the regular season, but it carries over into the postseason.

The organization has met with John Lackey’s agent. Can you comment on him?

John Lackey is one of the best. Every year, there’s a couple guys that seem like they can sway the fortunes of an organization. He’s that type of pitcher. Now, to get that type of pitcher, you’re going to have to make quite a commitment. That’s something that makes our organization a little bit uneasy. It doesn’t mean a guy can’t come in and help you win. If there’s an injury along the way, that can set your organization back quite a bit. There’s a lot to think about besides just the year 2010. You’re possibly talking about 2015. That’s a lot of years.

Do you consider him an ace?

Yeah, probably. I probably do. He’s missed a little bit of time, but when he’s out there, I think their team feels it’s going to win. He can match up against Beckett, Lester. He can go head-to-head with the better guys in the league and hold his own.

Would you like to have Alex Gonzalez back?

At a time of the year when we had a lot of moving parts at shortstop, he was really a stabilizing force. When the ball was hit, you’re out. Nobody more than myself, I appreciated I a lot, because we had a lot of moving parts. Going forward, to have him back, from our front office’s side, if we could get him back at the right price, yeah. We would enjoy that.

The thing to remember with Gonzy, what he did the last six weeks of the season was really helpful. When you look at that .310 on-base percentage, for a full year, if that’s what you’re going to go with, you’ve got to recoup that somewhere else. That’s something to think about.

How do you improve on the home/road splits?

That seems to be the $64 million question. The obvious things are that we’re very comfortable at home. We have great fans. We’ve got guys like Mikey Lowell that know they can hit that left-field wall. David Ortiz knows that he can reach out and hit the Wall.

It’s not just on the road, but especially against the better pitching in the league, we have not done well. We got into Anaheim in the playoffs, the same thing happened. The first two road games, we did nothing. It’s not a lack of trying on our players. I don’t feel like we need to have team meetings. We just get into the bigger ballparks and we don’t score as much. Some of our guys don’t reach the fences as much as they do at home.

It’s been a problem for about the last three years. The flip side of that is that we’ve played so well at home that it’s outweighed how we’ve played on the road.

What do you expect from David Ortiz?

What David’s going through is what a lot of guys go through. He’s getting older, he’s a big guy, and he’s been injured.

When that happens, your work ethic or your workload has to increase over the offseason or time starts catching up a little bit. That’s just the way it is. It’s not fair. Wake and I have had this conversation every year since I’ve been here. If you want to keep playing or pitching, you’ve got to work harder because you’re getting older. That’s just the way it is – especially with big-body guys who have been injured.

To David’s credit, he’s been in the ballpark everyday since the season’s been over. He looks terrific. He’s going to have to, because he’s got big shoes to wear. If he can’t, if you have a DH who’s not whacking the ball all over the ballpark, it kind of puts you in a tough spot. We’re so used to David hitting 40, 45, 50 home runs. We got used to that. If he’s hitting 18, it makes us a different team.

How do you value RBIs?

I think there are some things that can be skewed. I grew up in an era where, if you hit .300, you were a good player. Well, you know what? That’s not the tell-tale. I was the perfect example. I could hit .300. I never helped our team. I hit all singles, I never walked, I wasn’t fast enough to score any runs. It was kind of cosmetic. Getting on base is a very important stat. It doesn’t mean we have nine guys up there trying to walk. But it means if they’re seeing pitches and working counts, they’re going to become more dangerous hitters. If they’re on base, we talk all the time about keep the line moving, You have to have a good enough team to do that. If you have four or five guys who are taking their walks, and four or five guys that can’t hit, that’s not going to work. If you have a balanced team, which we try to do, and you have that approach, it’s going to work.

You seem to bring both both sides — statistical analysis and scouting — together.

I think there is both sides. You have to kind of wed those and come up with the best way of putting a team together. I don’t think you can do just one or the other. I think you can make mistakes. Sometimes the game can deceive you if you just look at it with your eyes. That’s why we look at statistics all the time. At the same time, there are people playing this game and you try not to forget that. You try to look at both and make good decisions.

Can you wait on Bay’s decision until mid-January? And, do the Sox have enough resources to trade for both a top pitcher and hitter?

I don’t think you’re going to see Jason out there on Jan. 15. I’ve got a feeling that won’t happen. That’s something Theo has to balance. You play poker a little bit. Fortunately, he’s a good poker player. I guarantee you he and his guys don’t have Plan A or Plan B – they’re probably down to the middle of the alphabet. One move affects the other. That’s just the way it is.

Do I think we have enough to make trades? Yeah. Do we want to? I don’t know. When you’re talking about acquiring big-name, good players, you’re going to have to give up big-name, young good players. In today’s game, not a lot of teams want to do that. That’s a tough balance. If you get productive players who aren’t making a lot of money yet, that’s really, really valuable.

How difficult is it to maintain relationships with players and balance those with the business side of the game?

That’s actually a good question.

We had to release George Kottaras. I love George. He never played. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t a good kid.

[Relationships with players] never get in the way of what we’re doing on the field, but at the same time, I do want to enjoy these players. It makes the bad news a little bit harder but doesn’t change the message. I don’t want to go through this and not get close to some of these players. … When you get around these guys for a while, you can’t help but get close to them. But it doesn’t change the message. We’ve given a lot of guys difficult messages. It’s not fun, but we do what we think is right.

How are you doing physically? How much longer do you want to manage?

Physically, this is probably the best I’ve done after a year. That’s probably because we got done prematurely, which is bad, but I’m actually doing it pretty well.

As far as doing it, I don’t know. It takes a lot out of me. It’s not just managing. Managing here, although I love it and I’m kind of addicted to it, it’s difficult. I can’t see myself doing this for 30 years. Saying that, I haven’t lost my excitement or my wanting to do it. When there comes a day when I don’t have that, regardless of what my contract says, I won’t do it.

How do you view Jed Lowrie going forward?

That’s an interesting question. I just spoke to Jed yesterday. He’s up in Canada.

He’s doing some therapy on that wrist. The wrist is troublesome. He already had a surgery. We love him as a player. We would love to be able to plug him in at shortstop everyday. He’s a switch-hitter. He could probably hit a ton of doubles and an occasional home run. He’s pretty reliable. The one thing that hasn’t been reliable is his health. It puts us in a little bit of a tricky spot. Quite honestly, it’s difficult. We don’t know quite what to do. We can’t put all of the shortstop position in his hands because we don’t know if he’s healthy enough to do it. But if he is healthy enough, he’s good enough to do it. We’re in a little bit of a predicament.

Is the ability to get on base born or bred? Can you develop patience and teach people to wear out pitchers?

I don’t think you can do it at the major-league level, or if you can, it’s few and far between. That’s why we take so much time in player development talking about that. When they get to the big leagues, the game is going a lot faster. They’re facing better competition, better pitching, and if you expect guys to all of a sudden start swinging at strikes, I think you’re kidding yourself.

So we spend a lot of time on that in the minor leagues. Guys don’t move up as much if they can’t swing at strikes.

Johnny Damon is a great example. Sometimes he walked. Sometimes he fouled off 12 pitches, I don’t know if it was by design, he was fouling off balls all over the ballpark. It was a talent of his. You put him in the leadoff spot and he helped wear down pitchers. I think if you get into teams’ bullpens before they want you to, you’re going to have success.

Mark McGwire is back in the news after the Cardinals hired him as a hitting coach — should he be in the Hall of Fame?

I’m just here to talk about the future, not the past. [Laughter] To be honest with you, it’s a subject that is really difficult to talk about. In our game, I think you’re kidding yourself if you don’t think people are guilty, but you’re also having people be guilty who haven’t been proven guilty. So, in my job, where I’m stand, I’m better off not saying something. It’s not fair. It’s unfair to some people on the good side. It’s probably also unfair to some of the other people. our game is what’s been guilty. we’ve taken steps to fix it. We were just a little bit late, and we’re paying the price for it.

What was the impact of the stories this summer surrounding David Ortiz?

It doesn’t help, ever. I think if you let it hurt, it’s our fault and shame on us. We have a responsibility to play the game regardless of what’s going on. We just, at the time, we were beat up and we weren’t playing very good. That didn’t have anything to do with us losing. I don’t think it was helping David hit. I think he was worn out from all that. But I think when those things get in the way, it’s an excuse.

What is Jacoby Ellsbury’s potential as a power hitter?

He’s already stolen about 70 bases, which is one of the gest in the league. I think with health, that will probably get a little bit better, because if he maintains his speed, he’s certainly going to learn the league a little better. His hitting, his offense, I think he’s going to grow into some power. What we’re a little bit wary of is trying to get him to pull the ball in the air. Good young players who play everyday get stronger and get better by experience. He’s going to hit some balls out of the ballpark. The most important thing I see with Jake is his ability to get on base. If he gets on base, because of his legs, because of our offense, he’s going to score runs. When he scores runs, we win games.

Were you surprised that the Yankees succeeded with an older club, with guys like Mariano Rivera being around 40 years old?

[Rivera] is a freak of nature. He’s got that pitch, that cutter, it attacks lefties, it fools righties. He’s been doing it for a long time. They have – it’s probably not real popular to sit here and talk about how good the Yankees are – they had a phenomenal team. They had ways to beat you. We’re a good example. We caught them early, before they were ready to go.

Did they change mid-year?

They weren’t playing tremendously well when we caught them early. They were hovering around .500. we played some good baseball. We had a great comeback against Mariano when Jason hit the home run. Some things fell our way. Then they got rolling.

A couple things. They got Alex back in the lineup. I don’t know if it’s coincidence or not, but when he comes back, Teixeira goes crazy, so now all of a sudden you have a three and four hitter, or four and five hitter, going off. Their baserunning was really, really good. They had the ability to steal a lot of bases. And their bullpen came together. They had one of the best bullpens in the league. That’s why they won so many games late. They’d bring in their bullpen, they wouldn’t give up runs, and with that lineup, they’d get into other people’s bullpens and they’d win.

Some defensive metrics say that Ellsbury is a bad outfielder. How is that possible?

First of all, it didn’t say he’s a bad outfielder. It said he didn’t measure up to league average as a centerfielder. That’s two different things. Pretty much every team has their best defensive outfielder in centerfield. As you go through the American League and you look at the centerfielders, to be an average centerfielder defensively you’ve got to be pretty damn good.

I actually think he is. The defensive equation is the hardest, in my opinion, to evaluate. They’re trying to make it better every year. They keep making adjustments to it. There’s a lot of things that come into play. You play here and then you go to Texas, that’s like going to a roller rink. The ground they cover is going to be less. There’s a lot of things out there that aren’t perfect. They’re trying to find ways to measure it. I do think Jacoby is getting better. I think he will continue to get better as he understands the strength of guys in the league, positioning, how important it is, I do think he will get better. I think he goes left to right very well. I think he is still learning how to go back on a ball, get back to the wall and show that athleticism.

[Defensive metrics are] more of a tool for signing guys and for the front office. It’s not something we look at going into a game because it doesn’t really help us prepare for a team.

If pitchers fall into bad patterns on the mound, why aren’t they forced back into the gameplan?

That’s not answerable in 30 seconds.

They’re human. … When you’re out there on the mound, there’s a very fine line between success and failure. Sometimes you’re talking about a ball that Beckett throws at 94 miles per hour fastball that an umpire views as an inch off the plate that, other nights, he gets it called. If he gets it called for strike one, now he loosens up, he throws a breaking ball for a strike; if it’s called a ball…

When things aren’t working, we don’t force guys to do it. If he goes out there without a breaking ball, for us to continually tell him to throw it probably isn’t going to win that game. It’s a fine line. We tell catchers all the time about, early in games, stay with pitches so we don’t turn a guy into a two-pithc pitcher. At the same time, if he’s given up six runs, he’s not going to be out there later in the game. So we try to balance that line and do what we think is right. It’s easy to say use all three or four pitches, change speeds and locate. But unless they do that, they’re not going to be in the game.

Is Jon Lester or Josh Beckett the ace?

Part of what makes us good is that we have two. I don’t think it’s important. I know you give the ball to somebody on Opening Day. Once Opening Day comes and goes, it doesn’t really matter. I think we have the ability to send two guys out there that can match up with anyone in the game. That’s part of the reason that makes us good.

The way we were set up this year, we were going to use both of them twice anyway.

If you have to make a decision and one guy pitches once, then it’s a big decision. If you have the ability to pitch both guys twice, which we were going to do, then it doesn’t really matter.

Catcher George Kottaras has been released by the Red Sox. (AP)

With Jason Varitek set to return to the Red Sox as a backup catcher and Victor Martinez returning for the 2010 season, the Red Sox’ catching situation seemed set for the 2010 season. As a result, it comes as little surprise that the Red Sox put catcher George Kottaras on relief waivers, according to a team source. UPDATE: According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the Brewers were awarded a waiver claim on Kottaras on Wednesday.

Kottaras hit .237 with a .308 OBP, .387 slugging mark, a homer and 10 RBIs in 2009. The 26-year-old — who was acquired from the Padres in exchange for David Wells in 2006 — served primarily as Tim Wakefield’s personal catcher over the first half of the 2009 season, working well enough with the pitcher that Wakefield was named to the All-Star team for the first time in his career.

Kottaras was out of minor-league options, and so rather than trying to pass him through outright waivers, the Sox put him on unconditional release waivers. As of today, he will be a free agent, free to negotiate with all clubs. (NOTE: Kottaras did not achieve free agency due to the Brewers’ waiver claim.)

Fernando Cabrera, who was placed on outright waivers by the Sox earlier this month, also elected free agency. The right-hander allowed five runs and struck out eight in 5.1 innings for the Sox after forging a 1.71 ERA for Triple-A Pawtucket.

Red Sox Manager Terry Francona will join the Dale & Holley show for a full hour on Wednesday afternoon. The show will be broadcasting live from Fenway Park on Wednesday as it awards the grand prize from Mohegan Sun’s “Lunch with Tito” promotion.

Tom Chagnon of Providence, R.I., will get to eat lunch with Francona and the Dale & Holley crew at Fenway. After lunch, Francona will join the show LIVE on-air from 1-2 p.m. Francona will talk about the team’s offseason and even take calls from listeners.

So, be sure to tune in to Wednesday’s show for must-listen radio with Terry Francona and the Dale & Holley show.

Zack Greinke was named the 2009 American League Cy Young winner on Tuesday. (AP)

Zack Greinke’s path to the 2009 Cy Young Award — an honor that was conferred upon him on Tuesday, is nothing short of remarkable.

It is, after all, less than four years since the young right-hander considered walking away from the game altogether. A baseball prodigy with incredible talent and aptitude for the game, he lost his passion for his craft while dealing with a crippling social anxiety disorder. The notion that he was going to take a sabbatical from the game became something of a forgone conclusion — Royals officials were far more worried about Greinke’s well-being and future off the field than they were about what happened on it.

Allard Baird, now an Assistant to GM Theo Epstein in Boston, was the Kansas City general manager at the time. He recognized during spring training of 2006 that Greinke’s condition required him to be away from baseball.

“This is a kid’s life,” Baird explained this summer. “You’re talking about a young man with a future of being a father — having kids, having grandchildren — all these things were the focus at that point, for me.

“I’d be lying if I said I thought there wasn’t a chance that he’d [walk away from the game],” Baird continued. “The focus was not on baseball. The focus was on the person.”

Baird was fired by the Royals later that year, but at the end of 2006, Greinke returned to baseball. He was brought back gradually, first pitching in the bullpen, then graduating to the rotation, and over the past two years, emerging as the most dominant pitcher in the American League.

Though a victim of incredibly poor run support with the Royals this year, Greinke went 16-8 with a 2.16 ERA for Kansas City this year. He held opponents to one or no runs in 18 of his 33 starts, and recorded the lowest ERA by an American Leaguer since the 1.74 ERA of Pedro Martinez as a member of the Red Sox in 2006.

He has shown everything that led Baird to take the right-hander out of high school with the sixth overall in the 2002 draft. Greinke matches a filthy arsenal with an incredible feel for pitching, something that places him in the category of a Martinez or Greg Maddux with his ability to read what a hitter is doing and attack an opponent’s weakness. That notion was reinforced one time when Greinke chatted with Baird after the former Kansas City GM had moved on to the Sox.

“He’s a good scout for a young kid. He broke down our hitters, the bat planes of our hitters. He’s got such a good feel. He’s advanced in terms of his physical ability, what he can do with the baseball, but he’s advanced mentally – dissecting hitters, looking at their strengths, looking at their limitations,” said Baird. “There are few guys in this game that, when you go and face a good hitter, they’ll say get beat with your best pitch. Don’t pitch to his weakness – pitch to his strength. He has the ability to pitch to a hitter’s weakness. And he’s a young kid. Few guys have his touch and feel and quality of stuff.”

Those occasional encounters notwithstanding, Baird has watched Greinke’s ascent from afar. The two stay in touch by text and periodic phone calls. Despite the fact that Greinke’s success is not tied to that of the team for which he works, Baird nonetheless is in a unique position to appreciate the pitcher’s path, and his accomplishments.

“I personally know what he went through. For him to be here, knowing what he went through, is pretty darn big. I don’t think he’ll ever get enough credit for that,” Baird said this summer. “That’s outside of his baseball abilities, how he took this head-on. We talk about mental toughness in this game, this guy has mental toughness beyond what could be imagined.”

For more on Greinke’s career, and Baird’s role in it, click here.

Stringfellow said that all of the teams who have called, with the exception of the Red Sox, have done so with an eye to adding Wagner as a closer. The agent also said in the report that teams have not been scared off by the fact that Wagner is a Type A free agent and would cost any team that signed him (except the Red Sox) a draft pick when the Sox offer the reliever arbitration.

Bailey converted 26 of 30 save opportunities for the A’s, while finishing with an 1.84 ERA in 68 appearances. He struck out 91 and walked 24.

The Sox’ best candidate was reliever Daniel Bard, who finished his first big league season with a 2-2 mark and a 3.65 ERA in 49 games. He struck out 63 in 49 1/3 innings, while walking 22. Of qualifying rookie relievers, Bard was tops in strikeouts per nine innings, coming in at 11.49, topping Texas’ flamethrower Netali Feliz who was at 11.32 in his 31 innings of work. Neither pitcher received a vote.

Here are the results of the voting for Rookie of the Year in both leagues. As for who was the best American League rookie in other various categories:

Wins: Detroit’s Rick Porcello, 14

ERA (For Starting Pitchers): Tampa Bay’s Jeff Niemann, 3.94 (just a touch better than Porcello’s 3.96)

Innings Pitched: Niemann, 180.2

Strikeouts: Oakland’s Brett Anderson, 150

Opponents Batting Average: Anderson, 2.65

Saves: Bailey, 26

Home Runs: Baltimore’s Nolan Reimold, 15

RBI: Chicago’s Gordon Beckham, 63

Games: Texas’ Elvis Andrus, 145

Times on Base: Andrus, 174

Stolen Bases: Andrus, 33

The news is out regarding the Red Sox’ ticket prices for the 2010 season. Here is the team’s press release:

The Boston Red Sox today announced prices for existing seats and standing room tickets available to the public at Fenway Park for the 2010 regular season and tickets available to the public for 2010 Spring Training games.

Following an across the board freeze of all ticket prices in 2009, approximately two-thirds of the tickets at Fenway Park will stay at 2009 levels or increase by $2 for the 2010 season and no single price category will increase by more than $5.  In 2010, 63% of the tickets at Fenway Park will be $52 or less, with the lowest ticket price remaining at $12.

The team will hold prices at 2009 levels for all tickets available to the public for the 2010 Spring Training Games at City of Palms Park in Ft. Myers, FL.  The Red Sox implemented an across the board freeze on all Spring Training ticket prices in 2009, and 2010 marks the fourth time in five years that ticket prices for games at City of Palms Park have remained unchanged.   The 2010 Spring Training schedule and ticket on-sale date will be announced in the coming weeks.

2010 regular season ticket prices will be held at last year’s level in 12 areas of Fenway Park:  Budweiser Right Field Roof Deck, Pavilion Box, Coca-Cola Corner Pavilion Reserved, Right Field Roof Terrace, Outfield Grandstand, Upper Bleachers, General Standing Room, Pavilion Level Standing Room, Coca-Cola Deck Standing Room, Right Field Roof Box Standing Room, Right Field Terrace Standing Room and Budweiser Right Field Roof Deck Standing Room.

Four areas of the ballpark (more than 48% of available tickets) will increase just $2: Infield Grandstand, Right Field Box, Right Field Roof Box and Lower Bleachers. Four categories will go up by $5: Field Box, Loge Box, Green Monster and Green Monster Standing Room.

“We approach the issue of ticket pricing anew each year and explore a number of models based on both current circumstances and future needs.  After careful review and deliberation, we decided to implement a modest average increase, 3.8%, that represents the second lowest average percentage price increase over the past 15 seasons with the exception of last season when we implemented a price freeze across the board for all categories,” said Red Sox President/CEO Larry Lucchino.

“We are fortunate that Red Sox Nation invests in this team year after year, and we will remain true to our fundamental pledge to field a team worthy of the fans’ support by investing each year in a formidable roster of uniformed personnel at both the major and minor league levels,” said Lucchino.  “We will also continue to be among the most active and aggressive teams in Major League Baseball in both the amateur draft and international player signings.  Further, we will continue our ninth year of private investment, generated in large part by ticket revenue, to preserve, protect and enhance Fenway Park; these annual investments, including those underway for 2010, total well over $100 million and, have put us in a position to host Red Sox baseball at Fenway Park for the next 40 to 50 years.”

(Price increases for premium seating in 2010 will vary and be based on longer term contracts previously entered into.  Distribution methods for Green Monster and Budweiser Deck tickets will be announced after the New Year, in accordance with past practice.  The Red Sox special discount programs for Active Duty Military and Clergy will continue in 2010.)

The Red Sox organization and the members of Red Sox Nation together achieved several significant milestones in 2009.  The team won 95 games during the regular season and reached the postseason for the sixth time in seven years.  The fans continued to set a new all-time Major League sellout streak record and ended the season at the 550 consecutive game mark (going back to May 15, 2003).  A new Fenway Park attendance record was also set, with 3,062,699 fans coming through the turnstiles during the regular season.

Fans’ first opportunity to purchase tickets for the 2010 season will be the annual, all-day “Christmas at Fenway” celebration on Saturday, December 12.  Additional details for this popular holiday event, and the Great Fenway Park Yard Sale on December 12 and 13, will be released in the near future.

A week ago Dustin Pedroia was the first to hint that Matsuzaka will end up at Athletes Performance in Arizona this offseason when appearing on the Mut and Bradford Show last week. (Pedroia will be on once again at 2 p.m. Saturday, taking your calls.)

When contacted, the nice folks at Athletes Performance said that nothing was definite, but the particulars were in discussions to bring Daisuke to Arizona.

The entire subject did lead to one of the more curious moments of the general managers meetings. When asked what Matsuzaka’s plans were for the offseason, his agent, Scott Boras, would only offer: “He was noticeably different when he came back to Boston and he’s got a workout regime he’s carried on in Japan. I haven’t discussed his offseason schedule with him … I think players have to come in in great shape. Their talent is best served when they’re in great shape. Anything other than that I think it’s an issue both the players and their camp and the team and their camp should earnestly discuss if that’s not the case.”

Haven’t discussed the offseason with him? Considering all that surrounded the Matsuzaka’s fitness this calendar year, that did, indeed, seem somewhat out of character for the all-encompassing presence that is Boras.

There is a separate group of arbitration-eligible players, known as Super-2s, who rank among the top 17 percent of service time for players with between two and three years of service time and who spent at least 86 days in the majors in the previous season. This year, the cutoff for Super-2 eligibility was two years, 139 days in the bigs. The Sox do not have any players who qualify for Super-2 arbitration eligibility; in fact, during the administration of GM Theo Epstein, the team has had only one Super-2, when Bronson Arroyo qualified for salary arbitration in 2005.

The list, with 2009 salaries and career service time:

1B Casey Kotchman ($2.885 million): 4 years, 144 days

RHP Jonathan Papelbon ($6.25 million): 4 years, 64 days

OF Jeremy Hermida ($2.25 million): 4 years, 33 days

RHP Manny Delcarmen ($476,000): 3 years, 133 days

RHP Ramon Ramirez ($441,000): 3 years, 113 days

RHP Fernando Cabrera ($700,000): 3 years, 104 days

OF Brian Anderson ($440,000): 3 years, 53 days

LHP Hideki Okajima ($1.75 million): 3 years, 0 days

Jason Bay's agent and the Red Sox have continued discussions since the end of the season. (AP)

Joe Urbon, the agent for free-agent outfielder Jason Bay, said that he has remained in contact with the Red Sox since the end of the season about his client. While Urbon also has talked with several teams who have expressed interest in the outfielder — who won the Silver Slugger Award as the top hitting left fielder in the American League on Thursday — the Sox currently have an exclusive window to discuss contract terms with Bay that runs through Nov. 19.

Come next Thursday, all 30 clubs are free to discuss years and dollars with Bay. Neither Urbon nor the Sox expect that an agreement will be reached before the close of that exclusive negotiating window. Even so, the agent suggests that the two sides plan to continue their conversations about a potential return if and when Bay starts negotiating with other clubs.

“There’s just as good a chance of Jason staying with his current club as there is with him going to any other club,” said Urbon. “We’ve had communication with Boston. I’ve spoken with [Sox GM Theo Epstein]. It’s been very candid. I think there is a sentiment from the club and from Jason and frankly from myself that we don’t see any reason why he won’t proceed to free agency. With that said, we don’t see any reason why we won’t continue to have open dialogue with the Red Sox, along with other clubs that are interested. We’re all on the same page with regards to that.”

To date, Urbon said, conversations with clubs have focused on the outfielder’s combination of durability and productivity. Urbon declined to detail the clubs with whom he had been in conversation about Bay. Even so, he made clear that interest in Bay has been widespread, representing teams from both the American and National Leagues — a fact that would suggest that the market for the outfielder is not being impacted by concerns about his defense.

“Interest has been very well distributed between the two leagues,” said Urbon. “Not one club mentioned anything about [defense]. I think it becomes a talking point, because it’s worth talking about and dissecting and evaluating, but at the end of the day, his ability to play a consistent left field, clubs are well aware of it. I haven’t heard any issue or concern about whether or not the player can play defense in a bigger park, a smaller park, an East Coast park, a West Coast park. It really wasn’t an issue.”

Jason Bay won his first Silver Slugger award. (AP)

What figures to be a memorable offseason for Jason Bay has started out on a good note for the free agent outfielder.

It was announced by Major League Baseball that Bay has won his first Silver Slugger award, presented to the best players at their respective positions in both the American and National Leagues.

“It’s exciting to win my first Silver Slugger,” Bay said via a text message, “especially given the number of great offensive outfielders in the AL.”

Bay led all AL outfielders with 36 HR and 119 RBI, while finishing third in OPS (slugging and on-base percentage combined), coming in at .921. The home run and RBI totals were the highest in the 31-year-old’s seven-year major league career.

Bay was the only member of the ‘09 Red Sox to win the award, after second baseman Dustin Pedroia had claimed his first in ‘08. Other recent Sox winners include David Ortiz (2004-07), Manny Ramirez (2000-06), and Jason Varitek (2005). Click here to see the history of Silver Slugger winners.

Put simply, his offensive production was not merely among the worst in the majors during the second half of last year — it was also among the worst in the majors for a half-season over the last 25 years. Here is a closer look:

Comparing Jason Varitek to other MLB catchers:

* - In total 2009 OPS, Varitek’s .703 OPS ranked 18th among MLB catchers with 300 or more plate appearances.  However, let’s look at his OPS by month during 2009:

April -  .881 (.250 with 4 HR in 60 AB)
May -  .824  (.231 with 6 HR in 78 AB)
June -  .750  (.234 with 1 HR in 64 AB)
July -  .736  (.231 with 2 HR in 65 AB)
August - .483  (.135 with 1 HR in 52 AB)
September - .382  (.133 with 0 HR in 45 AB)

* - Following the All-Star break, Varitek hit .157 (21 for 134) with 1 HR and a .489 OPS. It was the lowest OPS  in the majors last season following the break.  In fact, it was the lowest post-break OPS by a catcher since 1985 (min. 150+ PA):

.489 - Jason Varitek, BOS (2009)
.505 - Mike Matheny, STL (2001)
.513 - Sandy Alomar Jr, CLE (1998)
.519 - John Flaherty, DET (1995)
.525 - Dave Valle, SEA (1987)

* - Against right-handed pitchers (with Varitek batting left-handed — his weak side), here are his monthly marks this season:
April -  .890 (.261 with 3 HR in 46 AB)
May -  .650  (.203 with 2 HR in 59 AB)
June -  .818  (.244 with 1 HR in 41 AB)
July -  .693  (.217 with 1 HR in 46 AB)
August - .460  (.111 with 1 HR in 36 AB)
September - .333  (.125 with 0 HR in 32 AB)

That adds up to a .487 OPS (.156 with 1 HR in 96 AB) following the All-Star Break against right-handers, the lowest among catchers and the 3rd lowest of any player in the majors (min. 100 post-ASB PA vs RHP):
.463 - Alberto Gonzalez
.473 - Jermaine Dye
.487 - Jason Varitek
.490 - Willy Taveras

Over the past three seasons, Varitek has a .575 OPS against RHP after the All-Star break, lowest among catchers and 2nd lowest of any hitter in the majors during that span (min. 350 such PA):
.526 - Brandon Inge
.575 - Jason Varitek
.628 - Ryan Theriot
.630 - Pedro Feliz
.636 - Jeff Keppinger

The next catcher on the list is Jason Kendall (.670), almost 100 points higher than Varitek.

* -’Tek went 3 for his last 40 against RHP with 2 strikes (dating back to mid-July).

* - Against RHP with RISP, 2 outs, and 2 strikes, Varitek is 5 for his last 53 (.094) dating back to August, 2007.

* - The problems aren’t limited to offense, either.  Varitek threw out only 8.5% of basestealers in 2009, the lowest percentage in the majors:

8.5% - Jason Varitek (10-118)
14.9% - Mike Napoli (13-87)
16.8% - AJ Pierzynski (20-119)

In fact, Varitek’s percentage is the lowest in MLB over the past two seasons combined (min. 130+ attempts):

12.3% - Jason Varitek (23-187)
13.7% - AJ Pierzynski (31-226)
14.9% - Mike Napoli (22-148)

Questions remain about whether the Red Sox will be able to bring back Jason Bay, what potential blockbuster acquisitions the team might pursue this offseason and whether the Sox can improve upon the club that got swept out of the playoffs by the Angels this year.

There’s plenty to digest, and WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford (freshly — or, perhaps, not-so-freshly — back from the GM Meetings in Chicago) and Alex Speier will be in the Virtual Pressbox on Thursday, November 12, at noon, to take your questions about what will happen during what could be another wild offseason. Join them in the fifth installment of the WEEI.com Thursday baseball chat series.

PREVIOUS CHATS

Nov. 5 — Former Red Sox GM Dan Duquette

Oct. 29 — Red Sox outfielder Jason Bay

Oct. 22 — Red Sox hitting coach Dave Magadan

Oct. 15 — Red Sox director of amateur scouting Jason McLeod

Jason Varitek will be making at least one more tour with the Red Sox in 2010. (AP)

CHICAGO — Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek has exercised his $3 million player option (that includes the potential for up to $2 million in bonuses) for the 2010 season. Varitek his .209 with a .313 OBP and .390 slugging mark in 2009, and he ceded playing time to Victor Martinez after the switch-hitter was acquired from the Indians at the trade deadline. Sox GM Theo Epstein has made clear that the job of starting catcher for the Sox will belong to Martinez in 2010, meaning that Varitek’s role would be that of a backup.

“We’re happy to have Jason back,” Epstein said. “We look forward to a good year from him in 2010. He means an awful lot to the organization on and off the field. He helps solidify our catching position and is also a big asset to the pitching staff. We’re happy that he decided to come back and stay in the organization that he’s been such an important of.”

Though Varitek’s on-field role diminished over the course of the year, his Sox teammates insisted that the team captain still had plenty to contribute, whether on the field or in the clubhouse. The catcher worked closely with Martinez to help his transition to a new pitching staff in the middle of the season.

“He’s definitely one of those guys I’d love to see back, even if the transition starts like it started at the end of the year,” pitcher Josh Beckett said. “I think there’s a lot of things that a lot of people can learn from him. And him being around, it’s never a bad thing. He’s so great with young guys and he knows to run a clubhouse and that’s why he wears that ‘C’ on his chest.

The Sox decided not to exercise a $5 million team option on Varitek for the 2010 season. He signed his current contract — a one-year, $5 million deal that featured both player and team options — in January.

Here is the official Red Sox press release:

The Boston Red Sox today were notified that catcher Jason Varitek has exercised his 2010 contract option with the club.

The Red Sox announced on Monday that they declined to exercise the 2010 team option on Varitek’s contract. The catcher had until today to exercise or decline the 2010 player option on that contract.

Varitek, 37, was behind the plate in 108 games for the Red Sox in 2009, including 106 starts. He led the American League with a 3.87 catcher ERA and ranked second among AL backstops with a .997 fielding percentage (3 errors/896 total chances). At the plate, the switch-hitter batted .209 (76-for-364) with 14 home runs and 51 RBI.

Acquired by Boston from Seattle on July 31, 1997, Varitek has hit .259 (1,232-for-4,765) with 175 home runs and 705 RBI in 1,439 career Major League games over parts of 13 seasons with the Red Sox. He has been behind the plate in a club-record 1,381 contests and ranks among franchise all-time leaders in overall games played (9th), doubles (8th, 290), home runs (12th), RBI (15th) and walks (15th, 583).

The report raised some eyebrows, not only because Matsui is 35 and didn’t play a single game in the outfield last season, but also because just minutes before the report started circulating Yankees GM Brian Cashman definitely told a pack of reporters that Matsui would not be considered for outfield duty if New York was to bring him back.

Matsui, who was intent on getting his balky knees in better shape, did previously tell MLB.com “”That’s going to be a challenge that I’m going to have to work on during the offseason. Regardless of whether I could be back in the outfield or not, that’s something that I’m going to be working on, trying to get back in the outfield to see how capable I can be.”

– There still is no word on Jason Varitek, who has until midnight to activate his $3 million player option. The deadline is such since the Red Sox had informed the catcher that they wouldn’t be picking up the $5 million team option last Friday.

– Epstein met with Varitek’s agent, Scott Boras, for approximately 30 minutes Tuesday night, during which time the catcher was the primary topic of conversation.

– Epstein talked with Billy Wagner’s agent, Bean Stringfellow, Tuesday night regarding the reliever’s openness to accepting arbitration if/when the Sox offer it. The Red Sox would be open to having Wagner back, but on terms that would allow his contract to fit in the construction of their roster. There is no level the Sox would have to adhere to when it came to the dollar figure they would offer in an arbitration case.

– The Red Sox have re-hired former advance scout Todd Claus, who had been the head coach at Jacksonville University, to become an international scout.

– The Sox plan on re-implementing the two-man advance scouting system they had used prior to Claus leaving, before the 2009 season. Dana Levangie will continue in his role as one of the advance scouts, with the team filling the other job in the near future.

– Lowell manager Gary DiSarcina has been reassigned to become a roving infield instructor, and is still in the mix to fill a position on the major league club’s coaching staff. Epstein plans on interviewing candidates for that coaching spot over the next few days.

— There still is no word on Jason Varitek, who has until midnight to activate his $3 million player option. The deadline is such since the Red Sox had informed the catcher that they wouldn’t be picking up the $5 million team option last Friday.

— Epstein met with Varitek’s agent, Scott Boras, for approximately 30 minutes Tuesday night, during which time the catcher was the primary topic of conversation.

— Epstein talked with Billy Wagner’s agent, Bean Stringfellow, Tuesday night regarding the reliever’s openness to accepting arbitration if/when the Sox offer it. The Red Sox would be open to having Wagner back, but on terms that would allow his contract to fit in the construct of their roster. There is no level the Sox would have to adhere to when it came to the dollar figure they would offer in an arbitration case.

— The Red Sox have re-hired former advance scout Dave Jauss, who had been the head coach at Jacksonville University, to become an international scout.

— The Sox plan on re-implementing the two-man advance scouting system they had used prior to Jauss leaving, before the 2009 season. Dana Levangie will continue in his role as one of the advance scouts, with the team filling the other job in the near future.

— Lowell manager Gary DiSarcina has been reassigned to become a roving infield instructor, and is still in the mix to fill a position on the major league club’s coaching staff. Epstein plans on interviewing candidates for that coaching spot over the next few days.

“Will Billy reject (arbitration)?” Stringfellow told the Herald. “I just visited with Billy and his family the other day and I can tell you this much: Billy thoroughly enjoyed his time in Boston. It was one of the best experiences he has ever had in baseball. So, does he rule out accepting arbitration? No, he doesn’t.”

Wagner had garnered the assurance of the Red Sox that they wouldn’t pick up his $8 million option for 2010, allowing the pitcher to pursue opportunities to become a closer with another team. Wagner had told WEEI.com during the season that accepting arbitration wasn’t thought to be a path he was ready to explore.

“I know they’re going to offer me arbitration and of course I’m probably going to turn it down,” Wagner said. “I have a million people telling me why would you turn down the option, or why would you do this or that. Well, I didn’t come in this game looking for money, I was just good enough to make some.”

“There’s nothing to report,” said Nero in the lobby of the O’Hare International Airport Hilton. “Basically, he’s a Red Sox, it’s as simple as that.

“There’s been no indication on their part, or our part, that that will happen. We’re comfortable in whatever they want to do. If they come to us obviously we’ll listen. But neither Theo (Epstein) or Ben (Cherington) have called and said, ‘Hey, we want to talk long-term’. There was little or no dialogue at all prior to them exercising the option. The bottom line is that we’re content, he’s happy to be a Red Sox, and he’s going to be a Red Sox for the next year.”

The Red Sox exercised Martinez’ $7.7 million team option for 2010 Monday. If no extension is agreed upon the 30-year-old will be eligible to become a free agent for the first time in his career.

Nero also represents Seattle ace Felix Hernandez and says that the pitcher is in a similar wait-and-see situation.

“It’s the same exact thing except he has two more years of control,” Nero said. “The last thing in the world I can do is force somebody to offer a multi-year deal.”

The get-together lasted more than 30 minutes, and was a prelude to Boras meeting with Red Sox GM Theo Epstein later Tuesday night. With that in mind, here are some of the Red Sox-related highlights:

How would you respond to Jason Bay’s agent calling his client the free agent market’s most complete player?

I represent Matt Holliday and I’ll serve as an advocate. I don’t know what criteria he’s looking at, and that’s fine. All I can tell you is that I’ve been around baseball for a long time as a player and now as an agent and the reality of it that Matt Holliday is a complete player. That’s all I’ll say.

Regarding his relationship with the Red Sox front office

After this season I would say that the Boston Red Sox had a chance to sign Mark Teixeira before the New York Yankees did, because we gave them an offer. That’s the best I can do for owners, it really is. When you give them a chance to sign a player, that’s … the player was earnest in coming there at the time and he presented them with an offer they could have accepted.

Where do we stand with Jason Varitek?

I’m going to be talking with Theo and with Tek in the next day or so … I know Jason well enough to know not to speculate on what Jason is going to do.

What about Daisuke Matsuzaka’s approach this offseason?

He was noticeably different when he came back to Boston and he’s got a workout regime he’s carried on in Japan. I haven’t discussed his offseason schedule with him … I think players have to come in in great shape. Their talent is best served when they’re in great shape. Anything other than that I think it’s an issue both the players and their camp and the team and their camp should earnestly discuss if that’s not the case.

(Note: There is some discussion about Matsuzaka attending Athletes Performance in Arizona)

One quick note: Boras said he believes there are less than 30 franchise players in baseball.

The complete transcript to come …

- Mets general manager Omar Minaya wouldn’t address specific free agents, but did offer a glimpse into what his team might be looking for. While it was learned that New York most likely wouldn’t have interest in Jason Varitek if he chose not to accept the $3 million player option (needing a catcher to play on a more regular basis than Varitek might be ready for at this stage of his career), Corner outfielder — specifically Jason Bay — on the other hand, might be a different story.

While some reports suggest the Mets won’t go out and pay top dollar for one of the premier free agent bats, such as Bay, Minaya at least explained that the outfielder’s perceived defensive deficiencies wouldn’t be a deal-killer.

“Defense is important because it’s a pretty big ballpark. But the bottom line is that if you’re a corner outfielder you’ve got to have slug,” Minaya said. “I would put offense over defense right now in a corner outfielder.”

- New Toronto GM Alex Anthopolous showed an excellent ability to offer “I would rather not comment on that” every time a Roy Halladay question — or reasonable facsimile — was brought up. He did, however, offer this tidbit when it came to whether or not he would shy away from any potential deal with his own division: ”If it’s apples and apples and I get two deals that are exactly the same, certainly I would not prefer to trade within the division. But if I have a stronger deal within the division and it makes this club stronger, that would certainly be the one that I would want to lean to.”

- Former Red Sox assistant GM, and current Padres GM, Jed Hoyer also didn’t want to go too far into the Adrian Gonzalez talk, but did say that he has talked to Gonzalez’ agent, as well as Gonzalez.

“We’re going to try and start a dialogue soon, obviously once that dialogue starts we’re not going to comment on it, but we are going to start that dialogue,” said Hoyer, who hadn’t met Gonzalez before being introduced at Petco Park just before being introduced as GM.

Hoyer also agreed that the exhaustive research the Red Sox did in targeting Gonzalez at last season’s trade deadline helped him get a head-start when it came to knowing the ins and outs of the first baseman.

“I think so. Certainly he’s one of those players everybody knows. He’s a superstar player. There’s no secret. But I do think so,” Hoyer said. “Certainly in July he was the object of the affection of Boston’s front office.”

Hoyer would not reveal if he was planning on targeting any more members of the Red Sox front office, but did say he was in the process of interviewing candidates throughout the GM meetings. “I’m trying to rush without hurrying,” he explained.

Pirates GM Neil Huntington said he wasn’t surprised that Bay fared so well in the pressure of a place like Boston, predicting as much when trading the outfielder at the trade deadline of the 2008 season.

“As we got to know Jason we saw his tremendous character, that he was a tremendous guy and a tremendous teammate with a strong internal belief. So it didn’t surprise me to see Jason excel in Boston,” Huntington said. “I grew up in New England and I told Jason I thought he was going to be very, very successful there. It didn’t surprise me at all.”

Huntington recalled that Bay voiced a concern to the Pittsburgh front office in January, 2008, but viewed the displeasure as the outfielder prioritizing winning wherever his next long-term stay was going to take place.

“He cares about winning,” Huntington said. “He did everything well when he was with us. He wanted to believe we were moving forward as an organization and we were trying to win in Pittsburgh.”

Detroit’s Placido Polanco prevented Pedroia from winning his second straight Rawlings Gold Glove, claiming the award for the second time in his career. First-time winners included Rays third baseman Evan Longoria, Baltimore center fielder Adam Jones, and White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle.

Two Yankees claimed Gold Gloves, shortstop Derek Jeter (his fourth) and first baseman Mark Teixeira. Other winners included the Angels’ Torii Hunter, Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki, and Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer.

Solomon said that instant replay was discussed, but it was decided that Major League Baseball would keep the current replay system. “We need to digest what we’ve got,” he said.

Solomon also cited Bud Selig’s careful approach to making major changes to the game, “The commissioner is hesitant to leap forward quickly and make modifications to our game,” Solomon said.

Also discussed was baseball’s World Cup; reworking the Arizona Fall League as get younger players in the league; potentially modifying first-year player draft to more accurately portray the teams’ previous season record or success.

The proposed change in the draft would include the postseason when making the draft order, instead of strictly going by the final regular season records.

More to come …

Boras has insinuated that he will be holding court somewhere in the hotel lobby around 5 p.m. CST. That would come soon after the conclusion of  the general managers availability which takes place from 3:30-4:30 p.m. CST.

UPDATE: A representative from the Scott Boras Corp. has reiterated to WEEI.com that a report stating Varitek has chosen to accept the $3 player option is “erroneous” and the catcher continues to mull his options. Boras’ scheduled get-together might be a bit later than anticipated due to meetings, but will most likely still take place sometime early Tuesday evening.

The schedule will allow for access to all the general managers starting at 4:30 p.m. EST, which will surely spawn a flurry of Tweets and the like starting about 5:30 p.m.

One thing I forgot to pass on Monday was that in my conversation with Tim Wakefield, he passed along what a difference the surgery on his back had meant. He said that the limp which he had been saddled with for the past few months was instantly gone once he could get out of his hospital bed.

“I feel great” Wakefield said. “I’m getting more strength in my calf and my hamstring. As a matter of fact, the doctor came in soon after surgery and I was doing laps around the nurses station with my wife with my IV without limping. It was that instantaneously.

“Dr. (Lawrence) Borges did a phenomenal job. He even said to me that he was surprised that I was pitching because the fragment they took out of my back was pretty big.”

I did run into one National League executive who was toying with the idea of watching Cuban free agent pitcher Aroldis Chapman in the Dominican Republic. (He is reportedly in Costa Rica right now. Ed. Note: Chapman’s representatives clarified that the pitcher is currently in the United States, and has no plans to pitch in the Dominican.) The executive reiterated that while the talent for Chapman was off the charts (95-102 mph fastball), there was some growing concern regarding his make-up, which is not the norm for pitchers coming over from Cuba.

If you remember, one of the selling points for Jose Contreras when the Yankees and Red Sox were going toe-to-toe for the pitcher’s services was that he had pitched in the most pressure-packed of environments under the watchful eye of Fidel Castro and the Cuban government.

The 21-year-old Chapman, who will make a boatload of money from somebody (although maybe not as much as he is asking for), is perceived as somewhat immature, a notion that wasn’t displaced after a drama-filled World Baseball Classic outing. Unlike Contreras, there are conflicting reports whether the lefty flamethrower is even ready to begin his career in the big leagues.

All the concerns aside, with his upside, and the dearth of free agent pitching, Chapman figures to be one of the offseason’s biggest prizes and elicit some more good lobby talk as the meetings march along.

Be back later once access picks up …

Bonuses in 2010: Wakefield receives $50,000 each for starts 11-15; $75,000 each for starts 16-25; and $100,000 each for starts 26-30. (Max potential earnings: $5 million.)

Escalator clause for base salary in 2011: Wakefield’s 2011 base salary can increase, based on the number of innings he throws in 2010. If he throws 130 innings this coming season, his 2011 base salary increases to $2 million; he throws 160 innings in 2010, he would earn a $3.5 million base.

Bonuses in 2011: Wakefield’s potential bonuses for 2011 will depend on the base salary:

If the base salary is $1.5 million (after fewer than 130 innings in 2010):  $100,000 each for starts 11-15; $200,000 each for starts 16-25, and $250,000 each for starts 26-30. (Max potential earnings: $5.25 million.)

If the base salary is $2 million (if he throws at least 130 innings but fewer than 160):  $75,000 each for starts 11-15; $150,000 each for starts 16-20; $200,000 each for starts 21-30. (Max potential earnings: $5.125 million.)

If the base salary is $3.5 million (provided Wakefield throws at least 160 innings in 2010), the bonuses are the same as in 2010: $50,000 each for starts 11-15; $75,000 each for starts 16-25; and $100,000 each for starts 26-30. (Max potential earnings: $5 million.)

The pronouncement came after the the team officially announced it wouldn’t be picking up the $5 million team option on Jason Varitek, who now has five days to decide if he will accept the $3 million player option.

“We’re going to really look for Victor to be an everyday catcher for us next year,” Epstein said. “We feel like that puts us in the best position to win with Victor catching as much as he can. The other spot we’ll have available is for more of a traditional backup. We’ll see what Tek’s decision is before we move forward.”

Epstein classified the Red Sox’ approach as a “waiting mode,” but is optimistic about Martinez’ ability to handle the workload catching on a regular basis.

“He really sees himself as a catcher,” Epstein said of Martinez. “We have to be smart about it. We can’t push him to the point where we get diminishing returns. But I think he can catch a little  bit more and he’ll prepare himself to do that.”

Epstein said the club hasn’t started talks with either Martinez — who had his option picked up by the Sox for the 2010 season — or pitcher Josh Beckett regarding contract extensions.

Green, who underwent surgery on a slipped disc in his back Monday, filed for free agency earlier in the day after being outrighted by the Red Sox.

“Obviously Boston will no doubt be in discussions down the road, but I think if they truly felt that he was going to stay they would have let him go through the arbitration process,” O’Connell explained.

Despite the fact Green is coming off the injury which sidelined him for the second half of Sept., O’Connell is optimistic that the infielder has set himself up fairly well for the impending offseason.

“I’ve already received quite a few phone calls on Nick as far as next year. I think he’s going to have a lot of viable options,” Green said. “We’re not going to close the door on Boston, but at the same time Nick has shown he can hold down that shortstop position, which is the key position for any solid utility guy. You want to have that utility guy to be able to fill in when that starter goes down to hold that job for a month or two and he did that for three months.”

“I was surprised and a little disappointed at first because they told me they wanted to cut my guarantee, but in the long run they’re at least guaranteeing me another year,” he said. “That’s a huge positive because they know I want to break the records and retire as a Red Sox, so I’m very grateful for that.”

The two-year deal Wakefield has agreed upon will pay the 43-year-old a guaranteed $3.5 million in 2010 with the opportunity to have that jump up to $5 million if he makes 30 starts. The second year will guarantee him $1.5 million, a base that could increase to as much as $3.5 million depending on how many innings he throws in 2010, and that will also feature bonuses that could increase the value of the second year of the deal (regardless of the base) to approximately $5 million if the right-hander makes 30 starts.

Altering his previous arrangement — which presented the Red Sox with a $4 million team option following every season Wakefield played in — guarantees that the knuckleballer will be under contract for the next two seasons, setting the stage for him to go after both the record for most wins by a Red Sox pitcher (192) — which he is 17 shy of — and 200 overall wins. Wakefield currently stands at 189 wins for his career.

“I guess a little more relaxed,” said Wakefield of the construction of his new deal. “I didn’t mind going year to year because the reason why we set it up was to make it an easy decision to them, but also giving me an opportunity to get paid a fair amount. It wasn’t about going after more money. We wanted to do what was fair to the organization. Now, that deal was to avoid what has happened the last couple of days.

“I completely understand where the Red Sox are coming from based on the back surgery I had in the offseason and the fact I had some shoulder fatigue in ‘08. But it all worked out. It worked out where I think they were happy to cut back on the guarantees, but I still have the opportunity to make almost as much as I did, if I stay healthy, than I did with the original options.”

Indications from another major league source suggest that the Blue Jays are currently intent on keeping Halladay, although the 32-year-old figures to continue to be a topic of trade talk throughout the offseason. The Red Sox were one of the teams to make an attempt at acquiring the Toronto ace at last season’s trade deadline.

Halladay finished ‘09 at 17-10 with a 2.79 ERA, having led the league in complete games (9) for the third straight season.

Varitek hit .209 with a .313 OBP and .390 slugging mark, along with 14 homers and 51 RBIs, for the Red Sox in 2009. He played in 109 games, and was relegated to a part-timer with the Sox trade for Victor Martinez. Most notably, Varitek did not start any of the Sox’ three playoff games against the Angels.

Varitek signed his one-year, $5 million deal with both a team and a player option prior to last season. He has been with the Sox since 1997, and is the franchise’s all-time leader in games caught (1,439). The three-time All-Star is a career .259 hitter with a .344 OBP and .435 slugging mark, along with 175 homers.

It is believed that if Wakefield meets all of his incentives, he would fall approximately $1 million short of matching what he would have made if the options were picked up in each of the next two seasons. Wakefield originally signed a one-year deal with recurring team options of $4 million every season — a one-of-its-kind contract — during the 2005 season, with the deal becoming effective starting for the 2006 season.

Wakefield underwent surgery on a herniated disc in his back last month, but is expected to be ready to be fully ready for spring training.

The new deal could allow Wakefield to accomplish his goal of breaking the record for most wins in a Red Sox uniform by a pitcher (192), which is currently shared by Cy Young and Roger Clemens. The knuckleballer will enter ‘10 with 175 wins as a member of the Sox. He has also stated a goal of reaching 200 wins, which could be accomplished in the coming season. His current career win total stands at 189.

“Felix is our property, we’ve got him for the next two years,”  Zdurienick said. “That’s about all I would say about him. I’m looking forward to seeing Felix pitch for us. We’ve got him for this year and next year and he’s an integral part of everything we’re doing. You can make an argument that he’s the best guy in our league. He’s certainly one of the best. I would say Top 3 anyway. Where we stand right now is that he’s an integral part of what we’re doing.”

Zdurienick also said when asked about potential free agent signings, such as Jason Bay, he wasn’t going to box himself into a corner by ruling anything out, but didn’t feel comfortable commenting on any impending free agents.

Reinold has been with the Red Sox since following the 2005 season, coming to the team after working with renowned surgeon Dr. James Andrews at the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham, Ala. The Winthrop native has been credited with developing one of baseball’s most noted rehabilitation/strengthening programs for pitchers.

Lessard had also been with the team since just after the ‘05 season, coming over from the Arizona Diamondbacks organization, where he was head trainer from 1997-05.

Green, who is scheduled to undergo surgery on his back today to relieve the disc and nerve issue that prevented him from playing down the stretch, hit .236 with a .303 OBP and .366 slugging mark in 103 games for the Sox this year.

The Sox acquired Gathright in a trade with the Orioles late in the year. The speedy outfielder hit .313 with a .353 OBP and .313 slugging mark in 17 plate appearances, and was on Boston’s postseason roster for the series against the Angels.

Alex Gonzalez, who was acquired by a Red Sox in a trade in mid-August, is now a free agent. AP Image.

The Red Sox have declined their $6 million option on shortstop Alex Gonzalez for 2010, a major-league source confirmed. As a result, Gonzalez is now eligible for free agency. The news was first reported by boston.com.

Despite the decision to decline the shortstop’s option and instead pay him a $500,000 buy-out, the Red Sox have expressed some interest in bringing back the 32-year-old at a lower guaranteed salary. Gonzalez hit .284 with a .316 OBP and .453 slugging mark, five homers and 15 RBIs in 44 games for the Sox after Boston acquired him in a trade with the Reds in mid-August, his second stint with the Red Sox (after he spent the 2006 season in Boston). On the year, Gonzalez’ combined numbers between the Reds and Red Sox were .238/.275/.355.

Gonzalez is one of 10 players to spend at least 25 games at shortstop for the Red Sox since 2004.

The Sox currently still have Jed Lowrie on their major-league roster, though the Sox have admitted that while they would love to see the 25-year-old assume the role of starting shortstop, his struggle to remain healthy over the last couple of years suggests that the team cannot enter next year banking on his ability to take that role. Nick Green, who is due to undergo back surgery on Monday, was outrighted to the minors on Thursday.

Green was sidelined with what was believed to be a slipped disc in his back since mid-Sept., with his last at-bat coming on Sept. 16 when he drew a bases-loaded walk in the ninth inning of a win over the Angels.

The shortstop, who complained of a ‘dead’ right leg throughout the last few weeks of the season, played in 103 games with the Red Sox in 2009, hitting .236 with six homers.

The 31-year-old has spent parts of five season in the major leagues, having previously played in the Braves, Rays, Yankees and Mariners organizations.

Because the Marlins had to deal Hermida or face the prospect of making him a non-tender free-agent (there was no chance Florida was going to offer the 25-year-old salary arbitration), the acquisition cost was relatively low. The Sox gave up a pair of left-handers without a clear path to their major-league roster in Hunter Jones and Jose Alvarez. Here’s a brief primer on how each fit into the Sox system:

HUNTER JONES

Jones was one of the great scouting finds in the Red Sox organization, an undrafted free agent whom scouting director Jason McLeod saw on the Cape and brought into the Sox system for $35,000. He completed a remarkable and unlikely journey (this cannot be understated: he was never supposed to be able to throw over 85 mph after fracturing his ulna and requiring the insertion of a metal rod in his forearm) by reaching the majors this year.

But even though Jones is a strike-thrower with good deception and plane on his fastball, he has yet to develop a consistent breaking pitch that would allow him to be a real contributor in the Red Sox bullpen. He also didn’t prove particularly effective against lefties.

And so, with Dustin Richardson (recently named an All-Star in the Arizona Fall League) having passed him on the organization’s left-handed depth chart, he became a replaceable part who could be moved. For Jones (who has one option remaining), the opportunity is potentially an excellent one, as he gets to audition for a bullpen role with a Marlins franchise that is close to his hometown.

Jones has one option remaining, but with the Red Sox, there was little chance that he could be more than a last-man-in-the-bullpen type. Particularly given the number of established roles in the bullpen, Jones likely would have spent 2010 back in Pawtucket (for the third year), with the occasional call-up when the Sox needed some innings in their bullpen. With the Marlins, he faces a greater likelihood of big-league innings, in a ballpark and league that can only help his career.

JOSE ALVAREZ

Alvarez’ performance in 2009 — especially in Lowell of the Single A New York Penn League — was outstanding. He actually started the year in High A Salem, working out of the bullpen, as the Sox thought it would be more beneficial for him to have innings at an affiliate club than in extended spring training. He pitched credibly, especially considering that at 20 years old he was very young for the league. He had a 4.74 ERA in 12 relief appearances, where he struck out 11 and walked six in 24.2 innings.

When Lowell’s season began, he went to the Spinners to work as a starter, and his numbers jumped. Alvarez went 8-3 with a 1.52 ERA while pounding the strike zone, allowing just 10 walks against 63 strikeouts in 83 innings. He was an All-Star at the level.

His stuff is considered decent, if unspectacular. His willingness to throw strikes at a young age is impressive. He demonstrated a good feel for his changeup, a fringe-average fastball (high-80s, perhaps ticking 90 or 91) that he throws for strikes, and a breaking ball that remains a work in progress. The fastball/changeup combination suggests a pitcher better suited for the rotation than the bullpen, and he would have competed for a spot in the Greenville rotation in 2010, but with no certainty of cracking into that starting group.

On Hermida: “Hermida is a player who hasn’t fulfilled his potential yet and we acquired him today for a reasonable cost to see if he might be able to fulfill that potential enough.”

“He’s somebody who has positive indicators that his future performance might be better than his past performance. His minor league track record, his draft pedigree, [and] our scouting reports over the years indicated there’s a chance that he can turn into the player that he was once thought to be.”

“Certainly this was a good time to acquire him when his value was a little bit low and see if [in a] change of scenery he might be able to fulfill his potential.”

“He’s an average defender on the corners [and] a fairly well-rounded player, but coming out of the draft as the 11th overall pick and having an outstanding minor league performance as a young player throughout the minor league, he showed a lot of offensive potential.”

“When you acquire a player, sometimes you acquire them because you think there’s a chance that with a change of scenery they might grow into their potential and into their promise. He’s somebody who had and we feel may still have considerable promise.”

“[Hermida] was very young for each level he was at and performed extremely well, especially at Double A, and things just never came together for him in the big leagues. That’s not uncommon for young players. He’s about to turn 26 [and] move into his prime years. Sometimes talented young players who have struggled in the big leagues level put it all together and sometimes they don’t. When you have a chance to acquire one for what we deem to be a very reasonable cost, we think that’s the type of move that makes sense.”

On whether this is the start of a busy offseason: “This was not a blockbuster. This was a value trade, a chance to get a guy with unfulfilled potential for a reasonable cost. I don’t think we can draw grand conclusions about our offseason or the offseason throughout Major League Baseball based on this one transaction. It’s just a small move and I’m sure there will be increased activity with a lot of clubs when we get to the general managers’ meetings.”

On Hermida’s injuries: “I think that’s one of the things that has held him back and that has prevented him from reaching his potential. Most of the injuries he’s had have been soft tissue, head injuries, nothing that should be chronic, nothing structural that should impair him going forward. Again, often times young players get hurt early in their career and it really hampers them as they move closer to their prime and mature a little bit. Some figure out how to stay on the field and that helps them reach their potential, others don’t. We’ll see what happens with Jeremy.”

Hermida, a left-handed hitter, batted .259 with 13 home runs, 47 RBI and a career-high 56 walks in 129 games this season. Splitting time between left field and right field, Hermida made just one error in 205 total chances for a .995 fielding percentage, sixth among National League outfielders. He appeared in just three games after Aug. 31 due to an intercostal strain on his right side.

Here’s the press release from the Red Sox announcing the move:

BOSTON, MA — The Boston Red Sox today acquired outfielder Jeremy Hermida from the Florida Marlins in exchange for left-handed pitchers Hunter Jones and Jose Alvarez.

The announcement was made by Executive Vice President/General Manager Theo Epstein.

Hermida, 25, hit .259 (111-for-429) with 13 home runs and 47 RBI over 129 games with the Marlins in 2009 and set a career high with 56 walks.  The left-handed hitter appeared in 81 games (73 starts) in right field and 51 (40 starts) in left.  He made just one error in 205 total chances for a .995 fielding percentage, sixth among qualifying National League outfielders.  He appeared in just three games after August 31 due to an intercostal strain on his right side.

Selected by Florida in the first round (11th overall) of the 2002 First-Year Player Draft, Hermida has a .265 batting average (452-for-1,708), 57 homers and 210 RBI in 516 career Major League games with the Marlins.  He owns a .996 (1 error/264 total chances) fielding percentage in 151 contests beginning August 8, 2008, second in the NL over that time behind only Randy Winn (1.000), and is 45-for-148 (.304) in his career against AL East opponents.

Jones, 25, made his Major League debut with Boston in 2009 and appeared in 11 games in relief.  The left-hander posted a 9.24 ERA (13 ER/12.2 IP) with the Red Sox, compiling nine strikeouts.  In 36 relief outings with Triple-A Pawtucket, he was 4-3 with two saves and a 4.25 ERA (25 ER/53.0 IP).  Signed by the Red Sox as a non-drafted free agent on July 23, 2005, Jones went 22-14 with 22 saves and a 3.09 ERA (116 ER/338.0 IP) in 178 career minor league games (6 starts) in the Boston organization.

The 20-year-old Alvarez combined to go 9-4 with a 2.26 ERA (27 ER/107.2 IP) and 74 strikeouts compared to 16 walks in 26 games (12 starts) between Single-A Salem and Short-A Lowell in 2009.  He led the New York-Penn League with a 1.52 ERA (14 ER/83.0 IP) while recording eight wins over 14 outings (12 starts) with Lowell.  Signed by the Red Sox as a non-drafted free agent on July 2, 2005, the left-hander has compiled a 23-15 record and a 3.21 ERA (116 ER/325.2 IP) in 76 career minor league appearances (48 starts) in the Red Sox system.

The Red Sox also today outrighted right-handed pitcher Fernando Cabrera, outfielder Joey Gathright and infielder Nick Green to Triple-A Pawtucket.

Buster Olney is with is, good morning Buster.

Hey guys, how ya doin’?

Hey Buster, how do you think we’re doing? In Boston, Massachusetts, following a Yankees convincing World Series title.

Oh, come on, you’re in the middle of plotting how you’re going to take them down next year.

[Holley:] In all seriousness, we’ve been having a pretty spirited debate about the role of money for the Yankees in the World Series. I’d say money’s important, but you’ve got to do other smart things to put a great baseball team out there, and Dale sees it a little differently.

[Dale:] When I look at team payrolls, Buster, the Red Sox are closer to the San Diego Padres at 29 then they are to the Yankees, and that that’s a huge disadvantage to the Red Sox, and tough to overcome.

These next two statements are absolutely true in themselves: Number one, the payroll situation in baseball, the disparity, is getting to be an increasing problem and it’s only going to get worse in stuff that’s going to happen in the next 37 days. And two, I think the Yankees did a great job in the way that they spent their money, the way that they’ve changed the way they’ve operated really since the fall of 2005 when Brian Cashman went to George Steinbrenner and said, “Look, we have to change the way we do things, we have to catch the Red Sox and some of the other teams that are running organizations better than we are.”

So is it possible, maybe the Red Sox aren’t a great example because they spend a lot of money, too. A team like Tampa last year, is that a once-in-a-generation situation where you have great scouting and development and you have a bunch of kids that can take down a high-salary team like the Red Sox or the Yankees?

You ever seen the movie “Hoosiers?” I think that’s the way we’re going to view the 2008 Rays, because I think their window’s closing. On the off day the other day between Games 5 and 6, the Rays traded Aki Iwamura to the Pittsburgh Pirates, the reason why they did this was to save $650,000 in buyout money on his contract. They weren’t going to bring him back because he’s too expensive, and by the way, Iwamura is making $4.85 million with the Pirates — their highest-paid player. Does that tell you everything you need to know about where teams are? Yeah, I think the window of opportunities for small- or mid-market teams are getting smaller and as I mentioned, the next 37 days you are going to see a wave of non-tendered players like you’ve never seen before. General managers are thinking it’s going to be between 75 and 100 guys. Guys like Jeremy Hermida. Today, there’s a rumor that Mark Teahan is probably going to be traded to the White Sox by the Kansas City Royals because at $5 million, the Royals don’t think they can afford him. You know, that is going to be an increasing problem, so I absolutely do think that money is not a minor issue. And certainly, the Yankees, in the first year they open this new ballpark, which was a tremendous success, they win the championship. They’re loaded, and if they decide they want John Lackey, they’re going to get him.

One of the examples that we used concerning the financial disparity was just Teixeira. If the Red Sox had spent more than the Yankees for Teixeira, if he were here instead of there, how significantly would the gap between the two teams be closed?

I really think we’re going to look back at that bidding as a turning point in the dynamic between the Red Sox and Yankees. I think the Red Sox would have been the better team this year if they had won the Teixeira bidding. I think he’s that important of a player, he would have given the Red Sox exactly what they needed, a younger guy, a guy who can replace [David] Ortiz/Manny [Ramirez], a guy who can upgrade the defense, not only this year but in years going forward. And instead, the Red Sox are kind of left to choose among a lot of lesser options, and the Yankees meanwhile have this guy. And let me tell you something, I mean, there are always going to be character judgments about guys when they make money decisions as Teixeira did last winter, but from the moment he got in the Yankees clubhouse, he’s been tremendous in terms of how he’s dealt with the media, how he’s dealt with teammates, by all accounts he’s been a great teammate — and the Red Sox are left to sort of pick up the pieces from that.

You know, Buster, I have no doubt that Mark Teixeira is an impact player, but this is why I disagree that it would have vaulted the Red Sox to the World Series. I think the Yankees, with the signing of CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett and even acquiring Nick Swisher, I think they still had enough to overcome — if the Red Sox had gotten Teixeira, I still think the Yankees would have won the World Series.

Well, I hear you — and I think Sabathia and Burnett were terrific as well, but I think Teixeira would have made a huge difference during the regular season, the Yankees would have had Nick Swisher at first base, some lesser option out in the outfield, and going forward they wouldn’t be set up. And on the other hand, the Red Sox would have had that bridge guy to the next middle-of-the-order-type guy. I mean, you see them play more than I do, and I don’t think there’s any question at the end of the year what they were just starved for was a consistent offensive guy in the middle of their lineup. And I know people within the game thought the day Teixeira signed with the Yankees last year, they were like, “Wow, that might swing the balance of power between these two teams.”

Hideki Matsui was the World Series MVP, was tremendous, was great last night against Pedro in two situations that turned the game around. Does that change the way the Yankees are going to approach him in the offseason now that he’s a world series MVP, maybe they thought about moving on from this guy and now it’s going to be difficult to do?

No, it’s going to turn into business and not personal. I really think what they’re going to do is play [Johnny] Damon and Matsui off of each other. They’re only going to keep one of the two guys. I think they want to keep some flexibility because [Jorge] Posada clearly with his regressing defensive skills is going to be eating up some at-bats at designated hitter next year and the year after that. It wouldn’t surprise me if they were to basically put offers out to both Damon and Matsui or maybe they go after Damon first and say, “This is our offer for you, Johnny, and if you don’t take it we’re going to go after Matsui,” and basically get one of those two guys at the price they want to sign them to.

As I look at this thing with the left field position for the Red Sox and the Yankees, if they flopped left fielders, if Jason Bay got wooed by the Yankees and signed there and the Red Sox as a stop gap put Damon in left field here, I think he’d hit about eight home runs here next year.

You know what, I hear you. I don’t think the Yankees are going to be aggressive in going after an outfielder because they’ve got Austin Jackson coming up, and they do have this impending decision with Derek Jeter, about, you know, it doesn’t have to be next year, within the next two or three years, they’re going to move him out of shortstop. And because they have Teixeira and A-Rod locked up, they can’t put him in a corner, so I do think that they will not be a major bidder for [Matt] Holliday or Bay. Maybe I’ll be surprised, but I don’t think so.

Buster, I’m about to give you a new job here, get ready for this. I know I haven’t prepped you on this, but you are no longer ESPN baseball analyst, you are now the general manager of the Boston Red Sox. What are you going to do in the offseason, general manager Olney, to get the Red Sox back to the World Series?

I’m calling the Florida Marlins about Jeremy Hermida, who’s going to be one of these guys who might be non-tendered. I’m calling and trying to pluck the best of those guys, and I guarantee you Theo [Epstein]’s been doing that, in talking with general managers around the game. They say this is a really heavy part of the conversation right now. I don’t think they’re in a position at this moment to make a dynamic huge move. Idiots like me might say go get Prince Fielder, go sign John Lackey. I think they’re going to be laying back a little bit. Next year’s going to be somewhat of a transition year as they work through the last years of the contracts for Ortiz and Mike Lowell, and I don’t think they’re in a position really to do really what they’re going to need to do to upgrade their offense. I think next year’s going to be another sort of plug-and-fill year, and they’re going to have to do more incremental-type stuff like adding a promising young player like Jeremy Hermida.

I’m going to throw some names out here, and just tell me about the possibility or the viability of these guys being available. One is Felix Hernandez, two is Adrian Gonzalez, three is Miguel Cabrera and four is former Red Sox Hanley Ramirez.

One, I think if you’re going to get Hanley Ramirez, you basically have to throw the entire farm system at the Marlins. He’s hugely important to them, especially since they are getting ready to open up a new ballpark. I know the Red Sox and Marlins had a conversation lasted about .2 seconds about Hanley Ramirez last year. Unless the Marlins get into some serious financial situations, I just can’t see it happening and I can’t see Theo now, given where the Red Sox farm system is, I don’t see him suddenly just stripping down everything to get that one player especially with the young Cuban shortstop they have coming up that everyone just raves about. Miguel Cabrera, it all depends on whether Mike Ilitch, the Tigers owner, decides that he’s got to slash payroll, and we have no indication that’s the case. During the summertime, Magglio Ordonez, they allowed him to reach a vesting option for $18 million when everyone else in baseball thought they were crazy to do so, so it seems like Ilitch has no problem putting money down a drain. Felix Hernandez, I think the Mariners are going to make a sincere effort to sign him, and my gut is that they’re going to work it out. I think the Mariners know that he’s going to cost about $100 million. And Adrian Gonzalez, again, it’s a little bit like the Hanley Ramirez thing, certainly he wouldn’t be as expensive in terms of prospects, but if you’re the Red Sox, do you want to give up a boatload of prospects for him or do you want to just bide your time and wait for another first baseman to come around, because you know that Jed Hoyer, going into that job, is going to ask for an arm and a leg. And, he’s not expensive. It’s not like he’s sitting there with a $15 million contract, he’s only making $4 million, so you literally have to overpay to get him away from the Padres.

Well, asking you, Buster Olney, the general manager of the Boston Red Sox, this simple question: Are either Mike Lowell or David Ortiz tradeable?

No, they are not. You basically would have to eat a huge chunk of the contract to make them go away, and let’s face it … I think spring training, if not sooner, there will probably be an evaluation process where they will look at them and decide, you know what, should we just eat the money sooner or should we do it later, and we’ll see. I’m convinced that one of those two guys is not going to finish next year with the Red Sox.

Josh Beckett in town here the last couple of days said that he and his agent are going to begin conversations with the Red Sox very soon about the possibility of a contract extension, he reiterated his desire to continue on here. Do you feel that will get done?

If he’s looking for a CC Sabathia-type deal, no, he won’t. That’s not the Boston style for doing things, and given the fact he’s a little older than CC was when he became a free agent, it might be like John Lackey, where we’re seeing the Angels basically draw a line in the sand, think their offer was something in the range of four years and $60 million, and they’re telling him, “Look, we love you, we value you, but we’re not going to overpay to keep you.” And the number might be higher than the 60 million from the Red Sox to Beckett but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a similar stance from them where they place a value on him, maybe that’s five years and 75, tell him, “This is where we’re going, and if it’s not good enough, well, we love you Josh and good luck to you.”

You said earlier, if the Yankees want John Lackey they’ll get him. Do they want him?

I don’t know, my instinct is no, because they’ve got Joba Chamberlain coming up and certainly Phil Hughes. They can look at guys developing, but we saw during the postseason they are kind of having this issue with the back end of their rotation. Chien-Ming Wang is a real strong candidate to not be tendered a contract by the Yankees, they got a hole at the back end of the rotation. So, Lackey is going to be looking to get paid by somebody, and we saw with the Teixeira thing — I don’t think as the winter began the Yankees were like, “Let’s throw $180 million at Mark Teixeira,” but I think as they assessed the market they were like, “You know what? We got the money, let’s go get him.” And I think the real question on Lackey is going to be which team is going to give him a five-year, $60 million deal like Burnett. Last year it was the Yankees who went the extra mile to go get him, and it wouldn’t stun me if the market on Lackey kind of hangs around on 60 million, if the Yankees look at that and say, “You know what, let’s go get him. We made a lot of money, we could use him, we’re paying our luxury tax, let’s add to the back end of the rotation.”

Is it possible that the Yankees’ financial situation is not as good as we think it is? We see all those empty seats and those expensive seats around home plate, we know that Brian Cashman continues to talk about getting the payroll below $200 million. Are they maybe not as flush as we may think?

No, I think they’re doing pretty well, because of the network. And I don’t pretend to know what’s in the books, but from what I read, the network is now worth over a billion dollars. I mean, think about that, they now have a completely separate entity, they’re doing extremely well on all parts of it, all facets. The seats certainly look ugly, but I think that’s related to the fact that the tickets clearly were overpriced given where the economy was. I think next year those seats are going to be filled and coming off the championship. They’re probably going to sell out most of their games.

We know the Yankees still have some youth in [Robinson] Cano, they have some relative youth in CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira, they also have some age. If you are looking ahead to 2010, they just won the World Series, are they the favorites to do it again?

Yeah, I think they would be. And the Phillies would go in next year as the favorites to win the National League. Yeah, that’s one of the big questions going forward, besides the back end of the rotation, is when does the age manifest itself? And it will at some point. Derek Jeter has worked really hard the last two offseasons, but within the next two or three years, he’s not going to be good enough to play shortstop. Alex Rodriguez, you guys could see it this year coming off hip surgery, he looked stiff. Does he really begin to lose a lot of his lateral movement the way you guys saw in Mike Lowell this year. When are other guys going to regress? But let’s face it. I mean, they’ve got so much money, and they have the ability to plug those holes quicker than any other team, and I expect that they, like the Red Sox, are going to take advantage of this situation with the arbitration-eligible players and you might see them going out and trying to add a guy like Jeremy Hermida, plucking the best of those 3-5-year guys from the small-market teams.

I have a feeling your offseason’s going to last about three days.

How about three minutes? Waking up this morning and hearing the Royals may be trading Mark Teahan to the White Sox today, and I’m like, “Oh boy, here we go.”

Yeah, there is no offseason for you, right?

You know, it’s interesting, I talked to Brian Cashman two days ago, and he was sort of like, “Hey, what do you hear out there,” and I talked about the non-tender thing. And he said, “Boy, I kind of wish I had more time to get into it, but I don’t.” And I guarantee that today after he picks up his kids from school, he’ll be making phone calls and jumping into that market. It just doesn‘t stop now.