Mauer's locked up...where does that leave us?

Well there goes that potential drama. Joe Mauer's locked up for the rest of his relevant career, and the teams who were banking on the possibility of landing him (New York and Boston) are suddenly left with one less potential hall of fame option. This leaves the Red Sox organization. On one hand, Victor Martinez is a .299/.381/.480 lifetime hitter who belted 33 homers in 2009. On the other, he is already 31 years old, has a detailed injury history, is a liability on defense behind the plate and notoriously is less effective with a bat in his hands when he's playing catcher as opposed to first base or DH. So what is the right call?

My presumption is that the Red Sox will make a serious run at signing V-mart to a three or four year deal. I base this on a number of factors. Firstly, the free agent class for catchers projects to be incredibly week after 2010. Secondly, even though Mark Wagner has looked spectacular this spring and Luis Exposito and Tim Federowicz both project as solid players down the road, there are no minor leaguers that will figure into the major league equation in 2011. As such, the Red Sox have little choice but to re-sign Martinez. And at first I saw that as a bad thing, but as I am prone to do, I've been thinking since then.

It is true that V-Mart is a little less valuable behind the plate, but that isn't necessarily where he will end up. We all know that he also plays first base and can handle the DH spot. ON the first base note, Kevin Youkilis has a firm hold on the position at the moment, but when Beltre's contract expires there is nothing holding Boston back from swinging Youk to third and moving V-mart to first. As for the DH, according to John Tomase of the Boston Herald, David Ortiz has no plan to press the team about his $12.5m club option for 2011, which provides the front office and coaching staff a little time to evaluate his 2010 productivity before making that decision. If Papi repeats his 2009 collapse, it is also conceivable that V-mart would man the helm at DH next season. However, as always, only time will tell.