Red Sox Likely To Watch Alex Gonzalez Walk, Jason Varitek Return

For the past six years, every winter in New England has been basically the same: bitter cold, unforgiving snow storms and no proven shortstop for the Red Sox heading into spring training.

This year is no different, as the shortstop selection in the free-agent market is slim pickings for Theo Epstein and company.

This season, the Sox cycled through their usual arsenal of shortstops. Nick Green, Julio Lugo and Jed Lowrie patrolled the Fenway infield before the Sox eventually landed Alex Gonzalez, who took the reigns after joining the team after the trade deadline.

While A-Gon comes with a reliable glove and a dependable bat in the No. 9 hole, keeping him in the Hub isn't going to be as simple as RSVPing to an Evite. Gonzalez has a $6 million option for 2010, which the Sox aren't likely to pick up. In this era, $6 million sounds like a bargain, right? Wrong.

As 98.5 The Sports Hub's Tony Massarotti points out, last offseason, the Angels landed right fielder Bobby Abreu at just $5 million because of the slow market. Would you pay a Gonzalez more money than an Abreu? Didn't think so.

So what will the Sox do if they let Gonzo walk? With not much out there, the Sox will have to keep their focus on getting a shortstop who can get outs first and hit second.

"If they don't re-sign Gonzalez, and assuming that some sort of blockbuster trade for a middle-of-the-order bat is not an option, I'll think you'll see them focus on defense," Mazz told NESN's Kathryn Tappen on Tuesday's edition of SportsDesk. "Maybe someone like a Marco Scutaro could have appeal to them. Clearly, at this stage, it's hard for them to assume that Jed Lowrie can give them 145 games at that position.

"Defense is the priority there because you're not going to find a real middle-of-the-order bat at that spot. It's a tough one to fill."

Another hot-stove question the Sox will be asking themselves is what to do with Jason Varitek. Tek has an option to return to the club for the 2010 campaign, but he knows he will be taking a backseat to Victor Martinez, who came in and took over dish duties at the trade deadline. 

While V-Mart proved he can handle the majority of the workload behind the plate, the Sox may be concerned about how 100-plus games at catcher may affect his bat. Martinez put up big numbers in the No. 3 hole upon his arrival at Fenway and manager Terry Francona doesn't want to disrupt that fine piece of lumber.

So what does this mean for Tek?

"I think right now he's going to be back as the backup catcher on this team," Mazz predicted. "I don't think there's anything that suggests he's going to retire -- he signed a two-year deal for a reason. He wanted to come back."

For the rest of Tony's and Kathryn's offseason rumblings, check out the video below: