Red Sox Legend Willing To Leave Organization To Manage Elsewhere If Called Upon
The Boston Red Sox have done a fantastic job of maintaining the ideal culture at all organizational levels by keeping past World Champions around.
Craig Breslow was a former World Series winning reliever before becoming Boston’s new chief baseball officer. One of the main players in the 2007 World Series success was manager Alex Cora. Then, a number of former players serve in coaching and advising capacities to further advance the City of Champions mentality required to be a consistent competitor.
Jason Varitek is among the most active former players. Currently, the former captain and catcher coordinates game plans for Cora’s staff. Since 1997, Varitek has been a part of the Red Sox organization in various capacities, including executive, coach, and player.
While Varitek has found what he’s been looking for in Boston for almost three decades, he might need to head elsewhere to achieve his next big goal — managing.
“I recognize that’s the direction this is going to go, being able to have the right opportunities and fits to lead and manage a team,” Varitek said to MassLive’s Chris Cotillo on Friday night at the Pedro Martinez Foundation Gala. It’s not really about that right now. My goal is to provide our pitchers and catchers the greatest support possible to enable them to reach their full potential. If such opportunities align with your goals, you should investigate and give it careful thought.
Varitek took a phone call from San Francisco Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi regarding the club’s manager vacancy this offseason following the firing of Gabe Kapler. The call was more of an inquiry, if anything, and did not lead to Varitek formally interviewing for the position. Any chance of that happening dissolved when Bob Melvin became available.
Still, Varitek is headed down that path, and will be blocked as long as Cora remains in his current role. There is a chance Varitek could be Cora’s successor when the latter decides to move into a front-office role — something he’s expressed interest in eventually transitioning into.
If not, Boston will have to say goodbye to the captain, and share him with another franchise.