As for what he did in the last two seasons: he did exactly what a veteren backstop looking at retirement does. He mentored his replacement. The reverence with which Salty talks about him, the way he credits Tek for making him the catcher he is, that is exactly what he should have been doing and exactly what he did.

The lockerroom stuff, the beer and chicken bs, what was he gonna do? They’re adults. Jeter would never be in a position to have to deal with that because the atmosphere in Boston and New York is completely different. Yankees can’t have long hair, have to be relatively clean shaven… it’s a complete dictatorship there. Apples and oranges my friend.

Are you going to attribute Greg Maddux’s success to all his catchers? NO WAY. Greg did his homework like all athletes making millions of dollars should do. HE kept himself competitive by learning and reading and keeping track of EVERYTHING.

There is a culture in the Boston clubhouse that still exists even though Beckett is gone and that needs to be broken completely by bailing on Lackey this winter as well. THEN you will start to see Lester and company pitch better because their new manager ain’t gonna put up with the whiny, cry baby chicken and beer shit.

Another cup of Kool Aid for you sir?

The best in-game manager for his pitching staff? Really? Isn’t that what the pitching coach AND the manager are for. Varitek did his JOB. He learned about the other hitters and called a decent game, but so what. He was supposed to do that. This is the Chris Rock argument of “I take care of my kids.”

And as far as catching 2 World Series titles and 4 no hitters: he didn’t do that alone. These are team accomplishments and to be perfectly honest in this era of Wild Card baseball, it’s all very lucky circumstance that he was able to do that. What if this was in the pre-divisional era? Varitek would have been going home to play house with his Sideline Reporter of the Month.

Finally, in response to your babysitting comment: bullshit. You wear that “C”, you take it all the way. You think Derek Jeter was going to let something like that happen in New York? No fucking way. I regularly root against the Yankees because I hate to see them win so often, but if you are a true fan of baseball, you have to absolutely admit that Jeter carries himself in the most professional way anyone could be expected to do. And those guys around him respect him and listen to him. They are all in check because HE is the true in-house principal. Varitek is just collecting paychecks to stay connected to the game and to local Boston poon. THAT’S IT.

His job was not to babysit other men.

Go back to last September when the guy that he had been playing under for 8 seasons was about to get his ass handed to him if Texas tough guy Josh Beckett and his pal John Lackey didn’t stop the chicken and beer parties in the clubhouse. They didn’t, Tito got fired, and where was Varitek? Was he off in the corner of the dugout counting the pennies he got for next to no work during the last 2 seasons of being on the team?

The Varitek thing is a PR move orchestrated by Larry Lucchino. That’s it. They want to restore good will in during the off season because they care about their fans want to salvage the last bozos willing to buy season tickets that don’t have the names Stub and Hub and Ace and Ticket anywhere in their name. And that’s not because they won’t be able to sell the tickets on those sites. They just want to make sure that silly FAKE sellout streak continues.

Varitek is a schmuck and don’t believe for one second that he’d be good for anything except hitting on the next sideline reporter that shitstain cable network NESN throws down on the field. Heidi Watney and Hazel Mae (allegedly) weren’t enough for the captain.

90 loses in 2012 here we come!

In comparison, Robin Ventura’s final season was 2004 and Mike Matheny’s final season was 2006. Very few ex-teammates were still there when they came back to manage 8 and 6 years later, respectively. Plus the White Sox and Cardinals didn’t have the clubhouse dysfunction that the current Red Sox do.

If Varitek wants to be a successful Red Sox manager, he should wait until after the veteran core of the team is fully broken up. Pedroia, Ortiz, Lester, Lackey–they all need to go before Varitek can win.