A Chance for Varitek, Captain of the Red Sox, to show his quality.

Time to prove thyneself.

Jason Varitek has signed a deal with the Red Sox after much preseason drama concerning whether or not he would return. Now that he is back, he will face an interesting season. Jason is 36 and has struggled at the plate the last few years. If he can put up some decent offensive numbers this year, like hitting .280 with 20 home runs, I will be happy. If he hits .270, I'll still be happy. I am certain he will do his job defensively as always, and will be called on to catch Tim Wakefield. Ironically, Wakefield, the resident knuckleballer, has been Varitek's teammate longer than anyone else on the Red Sox, but since Mirabelli started catching him a few years back, Tek rarely catches a game for Wake. In fact, Varitek came up with the Red Sox in '97, and Wakefield has been with the team since '95, the last Boston teammate of Roger Clemens currently with the team. I have used that Tolkien madlib in the past whenever Varitek steps up to the plate, and now that he is certain to be here after his return was ambiguous, it fits better than ever. The Red Sox have most of their main team returning, so we won't see much that is new in the lineup. Future Hall-of-Famer John Smoltz and Brad Penny, veteran and all-star ace of the Dodgers for the past several years, will join the team. Penny formed a formidable tandem with former "sock" Derek Lowe, and Smoltz's history speaks for itself. He was injured last year and required surgery, so he will probably not be pitching for us for quite a while. But getting even 20% of John Smoltz's normal talent is a lift. Of course, Penny was injured much of last year and struggled. Hopefully he can return to form. We also got Josh Bard, a former Red Sox catcher who caught for Wakefield. So maybe Varitek won't catch for Wake much after all, though the NESN guys said he would. The Sox also signed Rocco Baldelli, a New England native and childhood Red Sox fan. Baldelli started a very promising career, even compared to Joe DiMaggio, but he has been hampered by injuries for the past few years. He won't start but should prove a productive fourth outfielder. In any case, it should be an interesting season. With MVP Dustin Pedroia and 100-RBI man Kevin Youkilis coming off career seasons, my hometown Sox look to be a contender again in the AL East.

though the Yankees did spend all that money signing C.C. and A.J... The Bankee$ are always tough because they can go out and do that and not worry about going bankrupt in an economic depression. The Rays are all young and homegrown, giving merit to the theory that the opposite of the Yankee technique is useful. Three 90-win teams in the east? :O