Tek

Today is the first day that free agents are allowed to start talking to other teams. We obviously can't keep all of them, but we can't afford to lose all of them either. And when I say that, I mean Jason Varitek.

The rest of them are all replaceable, even Pedro. We can't afford to lose Tek though. There's no question we would not have made it to, and won, the WS without him. I'm not talking about the fact that he's a good hitting catcher, or that he's one of the top defensive catchers in the game. Of course those are big factors, but even bigger is everything else he brings to this team. The way he handles the pitching staff. The amount of work he puts into learning the pitchers he catches and the hitters they throw against. Most importantly, his leadership. To a man, the entire team admitted that Tek was their leader.

This stuff cannot be replaced. Yes they've got Shoppach in the minors and they think he'll be ready to take over in another year or 2, but they will not replace all of the intangibles Tek brings to this team. Schilling knows it, that's why he's pleading with management to get this guy signed.

I'm not sure anyone is going to be willing to give him the contract his agent wants for him (5 years, 50 million, no trade). There aren't very many teams who would be interested in giving that kind of contract to any player, let alone a 33 year old catcher. I suspect when it's all said and done he will end up getting a good enough offer from the Sox to keep him here. Hopefully it will work out that way, because he's the one player on this team that we can't replace.