Jason Varitek will announce his retirement at 5:30 on Thursday
The name of former Boston Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek is displayed on the scoreboard of the baseball spring training team stadium the day before Varitek announces his retirement from the sport.The Red Sox are in the midst of Spring Training and an interested thing to note is that they seem to be going back to basics.
The pitchers are working on defense while the infielders and outfielders are working on calling the ball.
It's a new approach for the team, but then again, there are a lot of new things happening in the 2012 season. New manager Bobby Valentine is changing the way things will be run this year, something that the Red Sox really need.
There were a number of reasons for the September collapse, so I think it's time to stop pointing fingers. I think that's exactly what the Red Sox are doing. According to boston.com, Valentine says the pitchers are really listening. He wants them to focus on not only pitching, but the defensive aspect of their game.
"Well, they made it a big point to bring that up," right-hander Clay Buchholz said. "Last year, we were pretty much the bottom of every category. I think defense wins championships, because if you don't have the guys behind you making great plays and you not being able to field your position, that's giving away runners and giving away runs when you don't have to."
Buccholz added that this would be part of their success this year.
As I mentioned before, while the pitchers are focusing on defense, the rest of the team is doing the same thing. In an article from WEEI, Valentine explained why he's having his infielders and outfielders working on calling the ball.
It sure seems like a simple concept, especially for professionals, but so is winning just one more game in the month of September, and we all saw how that played out. Here's what the new manager had to say:
“That stuff’s just called pop-up priority,” he said. “Who has the priority? It’s basic, one of those things everyone checks off. When it goes up, we want to catch it and not collide with each other. I know that’s simplifying it, but that’s basically it. There could be more than one person going after it, let’s not collide and let’s catch it.”
This could be exactly what the team needs. To focus on the little things and play small ball.
The captain hangs it up
Red Sox captain Jason Varitek will officially announce his retirement on Thursday. You can catch it on NESN at 5:30, live from JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, Florida.
His replacement
"Replacement" might not be the word to use when describing Kelly Stoppach. Sure he'll be the other catcher on the Red Sox roster, but he doesn't like the term replacement.
According to the Boston Herald, Shoppach says that he just happens to be in the same position in the roster.
“Things that will be different are not on-the-field things,” Shoppach said, acknowledging that Varitek’s leadership is irreplaceable. “But they asked me to come do a job, and it’s my responsibility to give it everything I’ve got. That’s all I can do. I can’t worry about anything else.”
That being said, Shoppach, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and catching prospect Ryan Lavarnway will have a lot of work to do in preparation for the season.