So You Want Jason Varitek to Manage the Red Sox?

I think anyone who suggests that Jason Varitek be the next Manager of the Red Sox should be castrated/spayed, and forced to carry, by hand, all the snow and ice out of Maine this winter, and build a giant igloo gulag for themselves somewhere in central Vermont.

Jason Varitek is already a "special assistant to the GM" which means he will advise marionette GM Ben Cherington in "Major League personnel decisions, evaluations, and mentorship and instruction of young players." It's never bad to have experienced baseball minds adding wisdom to a dialogue, but ultimately there can be only one GM. In 2013, it seems like the already impotent Cherington will be "helped" by Varitek and baseball numerologist Bill James.

I wonder if, as Special Assistant to the GM, Mr. Varitek will sew an "SAGM" patch on the collar of his suits and polo shirts. Just like he wore that gaudy "C" when he was Captain. And if he ever becomes Manager, will he have the clubhouse attendants sew an "M" on his jersey?

Jason Varitek is not the solution to the problems the Red Sox have. In fact, NO MANAGER is the solution. Managers aren't supposed to be solutions to clubhouse or personnel problems. They're supposed to put the players in the best position to do their best.

If you hire a Manager, any Manager, with the intention of solving your problems, you've already failed. If you have problems so pressing and urgent that they dictate who Manages your team, the problems are too complex, and too endemic to be solved by any Manager.

So just hire someone that knows baseball, that is somewhat respectable, that can communicate with players, and that can absorb/deflect/ignore the media's scrutiny (instead of trying to utilize it like Bobby Valentine did). And who doesn't let extra letters be sewn onto his jersey.