Halfway through his column on free agents expected to decline arbitration, Ken Rosenthal buries this interesting nugget:
Some rival agents**…believe that Boras might be offering [Jason] Varitek in a "package deal" with the catcher’s friend and fellow Georgia Tech alum, free-agent first baseman Mark Teixeira. The Red Sox are pursuing Teixeira, and the Nationals are among the other teams that might have interest in both players.
It’s not the first time that Boras has been accused of packaging his players, and it’s not the first time those rumors have concerned the Red Sox: when Boston signed J.D. Drew, there was a raft of unsubstantiated talk that Drew had been packaged with Daisuke Matsuzaka — in whom the Red Sox had already sunk $51.1MM for negotiating rights.
**As always, consider the source.
Sarah Green writes for UmpBump and the Boston Metro.
