Posted By, Kevin Jacobs, Sun Staff

The only thing left for the Boston Red Sox to sort out this off-season is who will be behind the plate on opening day. By Friday they’ll know if captain Jason Varitek is returning, or if they’ll have to explore other options. The offer that currently sits on “Tek’s” table is a $5 million one-year deal, with a club and player option of $5 and $3 million respectively for 2010.

What does that mean exactly? If Varitek wants to play in Boston he’ll be forced to take a cool five mil, and if the team wants to keep him for ‘10 they pay him another five. If they don’t feel like it’s necessary to keep the Cap’n (similar to this year) then he’ll have the option of taking $3 million to stick around.

To be honest, it’s not a bad situation for a guy who hasn’t hit above .255 since 2005 (and .220 last season), but to think that only a month ago he rejected $10-12 million in arbitration is now laughable. I have to say, this situation makes me so happy I can hardly contain myself. While I do feel a little bad for Varitek, he knew this was a risk and that Boston probably wouldn't budge. Now, I can’t help but giggle to myself, a Scott Boras client is going to get screwed! Kudos to Theo for finally sticking it to the guy I like to call “Satan of Swat”.

Unfortunately for Boras, things look equally as grim on the west coast, where the market for Manny looks is just as dry. I can’t wait to see how much money Ramirez will lose after passing on arbitration, and when that happens, we can all laugh in the faces of Boras and Manny!

What do you think about Varitek, Boras, and Manny? Click on the comments link below to tell us what you think or to pose questions.