BALTIMORE — On Sunday, the Red Sox were clear that they fired manager Alex Cora and five coaches (Ramón Vázquez, Pete Fatse, Kyle Hudson, Dillon Lawson and Joe Cronin). One line in the club’s press release was more nebulous.
“Game Planning and Run Prevention Coach Jason Varitek has been reassigned to a new role within the organization,” the Red Sox announced. “Details of his reassignment will be announced at a later date.”
On paper, the Red Sox took a different tack with Varitek, a revered member of the organization who has served three decades in various roles. But sources indicate that Varitek effectively faced the same fate as his six colleagues. After all, he was aboard the Mercedes shuttle that took the other fired coaches to the airport late Saturday after the news broke.
Varitek, in the hours since meeting with principal owner John Henry, team president/CEO Sam Kennedy and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, has told confidants he’s not planning on staying in the organization. That stance was seemingly reiterated by his wife, Catherine, in an post on X/Twitter Sunday.
“Red Sox Nation, Thank you,” Catherine Varitek wrote. “For the love, support, and loyalty you’ve shown to my husband for the past 3 decades. Forever grateful.”
On Sunday, as interim manager Chad Tracy and a pair of new staffers were installed on the major league staff at Camden Yards, Varitek’s status remained somewhat of an unsolved matter, at least in the minds of Red Sox decision-makers. While emotions ran very high Saturday — and Varitek was said to have taken the news of the sweeping changes harder than anyone — members of the front office were still holding out hope that cooler heads would prevail and that the former captain of the Red Sox would find a way to stay involved in the organization. All Breslow would confirm Sunday is that Varitek would no longer remain as a uniformed member of the club — a role he had held since 2021, when Cora re-assumed his duties as manager.
“We’re still working through that and having conversations,” Breslow said. “Obviously, Tek is an incredibly meaningful and important and revered member in this organization who has a ton of respect from me, but I think those conversations are best handled in private.”
On Saturday night, as Varitek departed Baltimore with the rest of the group, his status with the Red Sox was squarely in doubt. Around the same time he was seen on Cora’s Instagram story doing a “thumbs down” gesture in front of the private jet that took the group back to Massachusetts, a confidant said, via text, that Varitek “was not actually re-assigned.” Varitek, for his part, did not respond to multiple requests for comment from MassLive on Sunday.
Varitek, who recently turned 54, joined the Red Sox in a trade with the Mariners at the 1997 deadline and debuted that year. In 15 major league seasons, the Michigan native played 1,546 games for the franchise and won two World Series titles while being named to three All-Star Games. He retired after the 2011 season and then served a hybrid front office/coaching role as a special assistant and catching coach between 2012 and 2020. In 2021, Cora brought Varitek onto his staff as a “game planning coordinator,” a title that has been altered a bit in recent years.
In October, the sides took a bit of time to finalize a new contract for Varitek to return to Cora’s staff. His title this year was “game planning and run prevention coach.”
Varitek’s departure, in whatever form it ultimately takes, was felt in the Red Sox clubhouse, where many players viewed him as a mentor. Catcher Carlos Narváez was hit particularly hard by the news.
“He was a mentor to me,” Narváez said. “The first moment that I came to this organization, and I said multiple times last year, that he was like my second dad. A ton of love for him. I know he’s always going to be there for me and for everybody here.
“I’m lucky to have him. My first days on a new team last year, I was so grateful and glad I had a person like him on his side. I have a ton of respect for him. I have a ton of love for him. I know he’s always going to be there for me if I need something and the same way here.”
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