Theo the Thinker

DANA POINT, Calif. - Theo Epstein may have been one of the last to arrive at baseball's general managers' meetings yesterday, but it wasn't because he was slacking off. Epstein spent the day watching Clay Buchholz in an Arizona Fall League game, then showed up at the St. Regis Hotel, where his No. 1 priority will be the Red Sox' catching situation.

Toward that end, he will meet with agent Scott Boras over the next couple of days to discuss where the team stands in re-signing team captain Jason Varitek. Epstein spoke on a lot of topics upon his arrival, one of which was the multiyear extension he reached with the Sox - a deal that had been reported on for months but without his stamp. "That's done," he said. "It was taken care of a while back." Esptein would not reveal the length or financial terms of the deal but talked about his reasons for staying on with the Sox.

"When you sit back and think about being a general manager, this is exactly the type of organization you'd want to work for," he said. "Great fans, great ownership, and a tremendous foundation of our scouting and player development, which if we don't screw it up will lead to long-term success. "We're all in this game to work with good people and to try and win a World Series."

Tek Files for Divorce

Sox catcher Jason Varitek is splitting with his wife, Karen. The team captain filed for divorce July 28 in Gwinnett County, Ga., where the couple live in the offseason. They were married in 1997 and have three daughters, ages 8, 6, and 3. Varitek is in the final year of a four-year, $40-million contract he signed after the BoSox won the World Series in 2004. He'll be a free agent at the end of this season, though he turns 37 in April and is hitting just .216. Neither Varitek's attorney, Pamela Tremayne, nor his wife's attorney, Jonathan Levine, returned our phone calls yesterday.

MY TAKE ON THIS: Oh gosh. I guess that's probably why he's been slumping at the plate.

Varitek and Boomer Scott

With Varitek approaching Mondoza'ism, I recalled that George Scott was under .200 one year. I checked it out and found that in 1968 he batted .171 but only played in 124 games with 350 AB. He was coming off two pretty good first seasons with the Sox. However, as we (some of us) 1968 was the year of the pitcher. That was probably the most dominating year for pitchers since the early days, before batters learned to hit.

That was Bob Gibson's greatest season. In 1969, they lowered the mound from 16 inches to 10 inches,.