Temperature Goes Down, Stove Heats Up by Jared Carrabis
Tazawa to sign, Arbitration to Varitek?, Lowe to Boston? and more!


According to a report out of Japan, 22-year-old Junichi Tazawa has rejected offers from the Seattle Mariners, Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers leaving just one offer remaining on the table. The Japanese right-hander reportedly only received four offers and with three of them rejected, he is expected to announce his decision to sign with the Boston Red Sox some time next week. His announcement to sign with Boston could come as early as Monday but could come any time from now until the end of this week. Tazawa will be the third pitcher to come from Japan to the Red Sox’ 40-man roster but will be the first with no professional experience under his belt.

The Boston Herald is reporting that the Red Sox are expected to offer arbitration to their captain, Jason Varitek. General manager, Theo Epstein, has until midnight (Monday night/Tuesday morning) to decide if he will extend an arbitration offer to Varitek as well as five other free agents. Of those six free agents, Varitek is the only Type A free agent, which would ensure Boston two compensation draft picks if Varitek decides to sign elsewhere. As I wrote last week, the Red Sox draft very well when given these compensation draft picks. If however, Varitek accepts Boston’s arbitration offer, they would be committed to bringing back the captain on a one-year contract.

There have been a number of player’s names thrown around the rumor mill as far as a replacement for Varitek if he so chooses to play for a team other than Boston next season. The Boston Herald reported that the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim were open to trading one of two catchers, Mike Napoli or Jeff Mathis. One of these two catchers would likely grab the attention of the Red Sox front office if Varitek was not to return, but the asking price may be out of the Red Sox ballpark. Every team is likely looking for young pitching and the Red Sox have already told the Texas Rangers that they are not willing to part with Clay Buchholz in any trade for any catcher. Prying young catcher, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, from the Texas Rangers will take more than one young pitcher from the Red Sox. Expect the names of Justin Masterson and Michael Bowden to be thrown around if those talks pick up.

With the bullpen being a prime focus for Boston this offseason, the Red Sox added another arm to the Black Pearl this past Friday. Boston.com was the first to report a trade that did occur between Boston and Texas (no not for a catcher) that added more depth, and youth, to the Boston bullpen. The trade between the two teams brought 26-year-old right-hander Wes Littleton to Boston in exchange for two players to be named later or cash considerations. The side-arm throwing reliever is effective against right-handed hitters as he held them to a .157 clip in his rookie season of 2006.

In Nick Cafardo’s latest column, he speaks of Derek Lowe and his baseball future. Although his asking price is a very steep $16 million per season, Lowe stated that his top priority is not so much getting paid more than it is winning. Lowe made it very clear that if he is unable to attain the $16 million salary that he seeks, he will seek the alternate route of less than $16 million for a reasonable offer with a winning ball club. “It's pretty easy to figure them out if you just sit back and go over the teams in baseball who win on a consistent basis," said Lowe. "If your No. 1 goal is to win, I would say there's only a handful of teams year in and year out that have a chance to win.”

Well, with an appearance in Game 7 of the American League Championship series in four out of the last six seasons, I would say that it’s a safe bet that Boston is on Lowe’s destination list. As a matter of fact, no team ranks higher on Lowe’s list of team’s that he would like to end up in next season and beyond. “If you're looking four or five years down the line, they fit the criteria of what I'm looking for. It's not just the fact I played there - but, yeah, there were a lot of things I enjoyed - but they're definitely a franchise that has a chance to win.”

Sorry Mr. Lowe, but at $16 million, I know I wouldn’t be interested. Barring potential and hopeful Christmas Eve signing of Mark Teixeira, $16 million paid annually to Derek Lowe would make him the highest paid player on the Red Sox roster exceeding JD Drew’s $14 million salary to be a fourth starter at best. If he wants to talk about the importance of winning, then take a page out of the book of Kevin Garnett: winning takes sacrifices. If Lowe wants to surround himself in a winning atmosphere, especially in Boston, his asking price is going to have to come down just a tad before he is brought on board to make a run at his second World Series ring in a Boston uniform. Regardless, Lowe wins. Because either he’s on the Red Sox with a real good shot at a World Series and if not, you know there will be a team out there desperate enough for pitching to pay that $16 million.

Published on November 30, 2008

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