The almighty Jason Varitek
Steve H | April 18th, 2010 - 11:59 am
Jason Varitek, celebrating after successfully petitioning MLB to allow him to wear a C on his chest (his mistress must be so proud)
So I was listening to WEEI today, and the hosts were starting to complain about the Red Sox new defense, and how it was lacking. It’s less than 10 games into the season and they’re morons, so I didn’t really pay too much attention. They kept yammering on, then I heard the concerns with Victor Martinez throwing out runners. This is when I turned up the radio and my jaw dropped.
I live in the Boston area, and for years I’ve heard more excuses made for Jason Varitek than every other athlete combined. Can’t hit? He’s worn down from the grind. It doesn’t matter because “he calls a great game”. He’s just in a (year and half) slump. One of the greatest excuses I’ve heard made for Varitek is that he cannot throw out base runners because the pitchers don’t hold them well, and don’t use a slide step. This could all be true, but why not make these same excuses for Martinez? Hell, it’s the same pitchers right? Same pitching coach and manager for years now, right?
When you dig into it, the excuses simply don’t work all that well for the Captain lovers. Varitek, the great selfless teammate, has never really wanted to catch Tim Wakefield, and when he has, he’s been terrible (I thought he was the greatest defensive catcher ever?). So when Tim Wakefield has pitched, Jason Varitek has not caught. This is extremely important when discussing stolen bases. The knuckleballer Wakefield, is not only very slow to the plate, but throws a pitch that tops out at 75 MPH. In other words, I could steal a base off of Wakefield. Knowing that Varitek never caught Wakefield, you would assume that Wakefield’s regular catcher would have a much tougher time throwing out runners, right? Not so fast. See the chart below for more incriminating evidence against Jason Varitek being the Ozzie Smith of catching. Just for kicks, I threw in Victor Martinez’ caught stealing numbers as well.
| Varitek | Wakefield’s C | V-Mart | |
| 2004 | 23% | 15% | 25% |
| 2005 | 24% | 29% | 23% |
| 2006 | 22% | 17% | 18% |
| 2007 | 24% | 22% | 32% |
| 2008 | 22% | 30% | 37% |
| 2009 | 13% | 16% | 14% |
| AVG. | 21% | 22% | 25% |
So in the past 6 years (Martinez’ career as a catcher), Varitek threw out less runners than the guys catching Tim Wakefield, and less runners than Victor Martinez. For their whole careers, Varitek and Martinez have both thrown out 24% of runners, yet somehow, the running game against the Red Sox is just now an issue?
None of this of course matters to Varitek apologists (and I won’t even get into the adultery that they ignore), as they can always fall back on his “game calling ability”, which is simply a derived “statistic” that cannot be quantified, therefore cannot be disproven. Is Jason Varitek really head and shoulders above Victor Martinez defensively? I don’t know, I’d guess he’s better, but by how much? And if Martinez wasn’t quite the dynamic hitter he is, I guarantee he would be more highly regarded defensively, per the Nichols’ Law of Catcher Defense which states that a catcher’s defensive reputation is inversely proportional to their offensive abilities. At the end of the day, Martinez will get killed in Boston for his “subpar” defense, and the great Varitek will be revered. I just can’t explain it. Can anyone?
I can’t wait for the hype machine to try to sell Varitek’s (utter lack of anything even remotely resembling a) HOF case
Also, how has Mauer escaped Nichols’ Law? I guess by the end of his contract it will catch up to him
Varitek throws out fewer runners than a knuckleball catcher? Now that is priceless.
Dude, you lost all credibility (not that you had much to begin with) when you said Varitek couldn’t catch Wakefield! Varitek caught 147 of Wake’s starts! Mirabelli is the only catcher who has caught more of Wake’s starts – 22 more!
“None of this of course matters to Varitek apologists (and I won’t even get into the adultery that they ignore)”
Really? You actually wrote this? Maybe you should be posting on the “Jason Varitek’s Girlfriend” forum instead! LOLOL. You and the rest of the girls would get along well!
Because we all know that other athletes (not that there is any proof to these accusations unless you call anonymous internet rumors “proof”), especially baseball players, would never cheat.
“At the end of the day, Martinez will get killed in Boston for his “subpar” defense, and the great Varitek will be revered. I just can’t explain it. Can anyone?”
He’s a white guy with a gritbeard who awoke the sleeping giant in 2004 by beating up A-Rod with full catchers’ gear! Duh.
and he may have caught only 22 fewer Wakefield games than Mirabelli but Mirabelli has caught more than twice as many innings (1012 to 476)
Cal, I mentioned from 2004-2009. In that time Varitek has caught 8 games total for Wakefield, and two of them were as a substitute. Also, many of those games “caught” by Varitek before 2004 were when Wakefield was in the bullpen.
TK, A-Rod is vilified for cheating on his wife by many Varitek apologists, can’t have it both ways I guess.
Dude, you lost all credibility (not that you had much to begin with) when you said Varitek couldn’t catch Wakefield! Varitek caught 147 of Wake’s starts! Mirabelli is the only catcher who has caught more of Wake’s starts – 22 more!
Veritek sucks. Plain and simple. If he didn’t play for the Bosux, he’d be the back up catcher on any other team. If the Red Sux are realistic, this should be his last season. He hasn’t had it for 3 years now, but if they keep him, I look forward to many more years of Yankee domination of the AL East.
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