Thank goodness, the Varitek saga will come to an end one way or the other by this Saturday. The Red Sox offer is more than fair at this point and if Varitek does not want to take it, c'est la vie and we can all move on. The world will not come to an end, Fenway will still be standing, the Red Sox will still play 162 games and perhaps one of the youngsters like Kottaras or Brown will rise to the occasion. Kottaras by the way hit over .300 in the Dominican Winter League with a .419 OBP. It was a small sample size but encouraging none the less. He also has considerable experience handling knuckleball pitchers. His 22 home runs while splitting action with Brown at Pawtucket aren't exactly shabby either. Also, if Theo doesn't think the Sox youngsters can handle the job, make the deal with Texas or Arizona. The Sox have for years now training their catchers in the minors to be true students of the hitters their pitchers will face so I don't think the work effort needed to match what Varitek gave will be foreign to any of them. Whether Varitek understands it or not the Sox have done him a big favor with this offer. If he thinks he will successfully go back and ask for a 1 yr offer at anything close to what he would have gotten through arbitration he is dreaming. This is one soap opera I will be glad to see reach a conclusion. If Varitek is willing to swallow some pride and realize he had some rotten advice we will see him back if not I will look forward to seeing a youngster take over. Thank God the bus to Ft. Myers leaves next Wednesday!