Boras said Varitek believes the proposal is reasonable and responsible, especially considering the robust financial status of baseball in general and the Red Sox in particular. The no-trade clause could be crucial, Boras indicated, because Varitek's children are approaching school age and "being in one city for a long time is very important to him.
"Being a Red Sox all his life, he obviously thinks he's deserving of what every other team in the division does for their organizational players," Boras said here at the annual general managers meetings. "And with the evidence of his leadership, we obviously expect him to be compensated with the premium catchers in the game."
Foremost among those catchers is Ivan Rodriguez, who signed with the Tigers last January for four years and $40 million at age 32. Varitek also is 32, but Boras said Varitek could catch into his 40s and cited the history of the current Sox owners, including John W. Henry, Tom Werner, and Larry Lucchino, awarding contracts longer than four years to their top players when they ran other organizations.
"We looked at what John Henry did for Charles Johnson with five years and a no-trade clause," Boras said, referring to the five-year, $35 million contract Johnson signed with the Florida Marlins in 2000.
Boras cited long-term deals with no-trade clauses Lucchino approved for Phil Nevin and Ryan Klesko and offered to Kevin Brown with the San Diego Padres. And he pointed to multiyear contracts with no-trade provisions Werner offered to Tony Gwynn and Fred McGriff of the Padres.
"I can't fathom why, if they move to a city, that would make any difference about how they conducted business," Boras said.
Boras said he also found it hard to believe that the Sox owners would allow "their competitors to draw talent away from their city because there's not a team that has talked with us that has in any way had any hesitancy about a no-trade clause."
