Red Sox Make Decision On Two-Time World Series Champ's Future In Boston

Though the Boston Red Sox decided to retain the majority of their coaching staff last week, one prominent former player and current coach still had his future up in the air.

Ex-Red Sox catcher and two-time World Series champion Jason Varitek has been a member of Boston's coaching staff for the last five years. This season, his official title was "game planning and run prevention coach."

Once a three-time All-Star and Gold Glove-winning catcher, Varitek has lots of knowledge to draw from, and players always tend to sing his praises when asked about his tutelage. But his contract was up at the end of this season, which meant there was no absolute guarantee he'd be back in Boston.

Varitek expected to return to Red Sox in '26

On Thursday, Red Sox insider Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported that Varitek was expected to return in the same capacity to the Boston coaching staff for next season, though a contract was not yet finalized at the time of publication.

"Red Sox and Jason Varitek are working out terms but the expectation remains he returns in the same role, sources say," Cotillo tweeted.

Varitek's wife Catherine, who is an active social media user, posted a tweet before Cotillo's report that strongly suggested that news of Varitek's return to the coaching staff was imminent, though it could in theory have been about anything.

"Happy wife, happy life," Varitek wrote, with a heart-faced emoji.

The one thing that could have changed the equation, of course, would have been other teams requesting to interview Varitek for open managerial jobs.

But although the possibility is not extinguished, there have been no reports of that happening yet, while bench coach Ramón Vázquez is one of the confirmed candidates for the Minnesota Twins job.

Regardless, it seems Varitek and the Red Sox should continue their partnership next season. 29 years after he was first acquired as a minor leauger in a trade with the Seattle Mariners.

"Have I dumped everything I've had to make this organization better, and the people that you mentor, coach and be a part of? Yes," Varitek said earlier this week on WEEI. "Do I want to continue to do that? Yes. But we’ll have to see where it all lies.”

It appears it all lies in Boston, where it's been for as long as most of us can recall.

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