Add Jason Varitek’s name to the list of players that were so overvalued by Scott Boras that he will end up begging for his old job back, and happily accepting far less money than he was offered to do so. (HT: The Big Lead)

Only Boras can pull of such a feat, and pull it off so often.

Varitek filed for free agency at the end of last season, and in the time since, he’s received a grand total of none offers from around the league. The Red Sox, meanwhile, are still willing to employ Varitek as their catcher, and for that reason, they offered him arbitration.

The problem is, the minute the Sox offered arbitration, any team that signed Varitek would be required to send a first-round draft pick to Boston. Nobody wanted him that badly.

But not in Boras’ eyes.

From the Boston Herald:

Varitek, who endured his worst season at the plate last year, hitting .220 with 13 homers and 43 RBI, rejected the Red Sox offer of arbitration on Dec. 7. Had Varitek accepted arbitration, he would have guaranteed himself at least $10 million for 2009, the same salary he earned last season.

Boras urged Varitek to reject the offer, apparently expecting multi-year deals to surface.

So Varitek had no offers, and yet Boras insisted on passing on the $10 million per year, in order to negotiate with one team while having no leverage? Varitek will be lucky to play for the minimum next year for anyone, and the fact that it will be in Boston makes it even more ridiculous.

How Scott Boras still has clients is beyond me. If it weren’t for the idiots in the Bronx, Boras wouldn’t be able to resign any of his clients. Luckily for him, though, where there is a Steinbrenner, there is a way — to get your overrated client way more money than anyone else in the league would have payed.

Now, according to Boston.com, Varitek is playing the A-Rod card and meeting face-to-face with the team owners, sans agent. How can you simultaneously be the most sought-after agent in sports, and be an agent who has to have failed deals saved by the clients themselves? Boras has put himself above the game. People are not all idiots. I applaud any team with the balls to stand up to this guy.

Yes, Mark Tiexiera may have been one of the top available free agents this year. That doesn’t entitle you to name-the-price for him. Same thing with Alex Rodriguez. If it weren’t for the Yankees uncanny ability to overspend, these would have been two of the biggest free-agent failures in the history of sports. But the Yankees blank check payroll bailed Boras out on both counts.

I imagine that Varitek and the Red Sox will work this out on their own, and Varitek will wearing the ‘C’ again next season, but the story won’t be big enough to cost Boras the clients that it should. Nor will it discourage teams from dealing with him. In fact, from Boston’s perspective, it couldn’t have gone better. They were going to have to pay Varitek $10 million in 2009, and because of Boras, they will likely get about a 90 percent discount, and no one is competing with them for the right to do so. Well done, Boras. Boston thanks you.

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