Varitek Exercises Player Option With Red Sox; Torrealba Declines Colorado Offer

Jason Varitek has exercised his $3MM player option, according to Adam Hirshfield of NESN.com, and will return to the Red Sox in 2010, shortly after Boston had declined Varitek's $5MM team option.The decision comes after the Red Sox made it clear that they plan on using Victor Martinez as their everday catcher in 2010, and speaks also to the expected difficulties many players may have getting a bigger payday.For Varitek, more importantly, the days where he is an asset as a starting catcher may be gone. He posted a .703 OPS in 2009, and really wore down after a strong start. His first-half OPS was .826, while his second-half OPS was .489, or 161 points lower than the career mark of Mike Hampton.From the financial perspective, it will be interesting to see whether Varitek or Yorvit Torrealba had a better read of the money available for catchers. SI.com's Jon Heyman is reporting that Torrealba declined a Colorado offer of two years, $4.5MM.