Ball is rolling

Here's your chance to prove you can be the catcher and hitter you once were. If things should continue on the path they did a year ago, then the likelihood of you finishing your career with the Red Sox - which you referenced three times yesterday - might not take place. But one thing we know is that you're a proud man who doesn't want to leave on the downslide.

So the time has come. It's hard to say you have to prove yourself again, but really, this is no different than when you took that step from being a young catcher with potential to becoming a starter.

This could be a bigger challenge.

The Red Sox aren't going to backtrack to the offseason, when things got sticky. They are not going to admit they were willing to part ways and start anew with Josh Bard or one of the Texas catchers they still covet. But they were ready to move on. All the intangible things - the handling of pitchers, the meticulous preparation - they were willing to trust to another, unproven catcher.

But yesterday, when Varitek sat on a bench near the minor league clubhouse and addressed his situation on the record for the first time, it was the same confident, driven player we've known - one who seemed grateful to be back in a Sox uniform and to still be wearing the captain's "C."

He already has been mentoring Bard and young catchers George Kottaras, Dusty Brown, and Mark Wagner. He was already talking about the new starters, the professionalism of John Smoltz and the upside of Brad Penny, and it looked as if Varitek was back in his role as leader.

That seemed as important to him as the contract. Oh, he surely wanted something comparable to Jorge Posada's four-year, $52.4 million deal, but he never came close. Yet he dwelled on the fact that the Sox were at least committing to him for this year "and left the door open for next season."

"I'd like a commitment here for 20 years, but I don't think I'm going to play that long," he said. "It was important for me to go beyond one year."

He said that would be the case even if his role changes and he becomes more of a mentor only.

Varitek would not throw his agent, Scott Boras, under the bus for not accepting arbitration, which would have netted Varitek about the same $10 million he made in 2008.