Jason Varitek has hit poorly all year. At least he's been consistent.

Right now, he's got a .220 BA, .310 OBP, and .355 SLG, and an OPS+ of 74.

He's got 304 AB right now and projects out to about 430 for the year, assuming his playing time stays about the same. That's a reasonably safe bet, considering what a poor player Kevin Cash is.

Here are all the seasons by a catcher at age 36 or older where he got at least 400 AB, ranked by worst OPS+

  Cnt Player            **OPS **  AB Year Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
 ----+-----------------+--------+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+--------- 
    1 Bob Boone             40   450 1984  36 CAL AL 139 486  33  91 16  1  3  32  25   1  45   0   6   5  11   3  3  .202  .242  .262  .504 *2        
    2 Brad Ausmus           54   439 2006  37 HOU NL 139 502  37 101 16  1  2  39  45   2  71   6   9   3  21   3  1  .230  .308  .285  .593 *2/43     
    3 Carlton Fisk          60   457 1986  38 CHW AL 125 491  42 101 11  0 14  63  22   2  92   6   0   6  10   2  4  .221  .263  .337  .600 *27D      
    4 Bob Boone             63   442 1986  38 CAL AL 144 503  48  98 12  2  7  49  43   1  30   0  12   6  15   1  0  .222  .287  .305  .592 *2        
    5 Bob Boone             72   460 1985  37 CAL AL 150 520  37 114 17  0  5  55  37   2  35   3  16   4  12   1  2  .248  .306  .317  .623 *2        
    6 Benito Santiago       76   477 2001  36 SFG NL 133 515  39 125 25  4  6  45  23   0  78   2   7   6  19   5  4  .262  .295  .369  .664 *2/3      
    7 Luke Sewell           76   412 1937  36 CHW AL 122 459  51 111 21  6  1  61  46   0  18   0   1   0   0   4  5  .269  .343  .357  .700 *2        
    8 Al Todd               83   491 1938  36 PIT NL 133 521  52 130 19  7  7  75  18   0  31   4   8   0  25   2  0  .265  .296  .375  .671 *2        
    9 Birdie Tebbetts       84   403 1949  36 BOS AL 122 472  42 109 14  0  5  48  62   0  22   1   6   0  14   8  1  .270  .369  .342  .711 *2        
   10 Terry Steinbach       85   422 1998  36 MIN AL 124 465  45 102 25  2 14  54  38   0  89   4   0   1  16   0  1  .242  .310  .410  .720 *2/D      
   11 Bob Boone             92   405 1989  41 KCR AL 131 469  33 111 13  2  1  43  49   4  37   2   8   5  16   3  2  .274  .351  .323  .674 *2        
   12 Benito Santiago       96   401 2003  38 SFG NL 108 434  53 112 21  2 11  56  29   0  69   2   0   2  13   0  1  .279  .329  .424  .753 *2        
   13 Carlton Fisk          97   460 1991  43 CHW AL 134 501  42 111 25  0 18  74  32   4  86   7   0   2  19   1  2  .241  .299  .413  .712 *2D3      
   14 Elston Howard         98   410 1966  37 NYY AL 126 451  38 105 19  2  6  35  37   9  65   1   0   3  12   0  0  .256  .317  .356  .673 *23       
   15 Carlton Fisk         102   454 1987  39 CHW AL 135 508  68 116 22  1 23  71  39   8  72   8   1   6   9   1  4  .256  .321  .460  .781 *2/3D7    
   16 Benito Santiago      103   478 2002  37 SFG NL 126 517  56 133 24  5 16  74  27   8  73   2   3   7  19   4  2  .278  .315  .450  .765 *2        
   17 Carlton Fisk         115   543 1985  37 CHW AL 153 620  85 129 23  1 37 107  52  12  81  17   2   6   9  17  9  .238  .320  .488  .808 *2D       
   18 Carlton Fisk         134   452 1990  42 CHW AL 137 521  65 129 21  0 18  65  61   8  73   7   0   1  12   7  2  .285  .378  .451  .829 *2D       

We see that Carlton Fisk and Benito Santiago both posted a stinker season but later bounced back to get at least 400 AB in a subsequent season and post an OPS+ over 100. But nobody else has done that, and with the exception of Bob Boone, everybody else disappeared from the full-time catching ranks after posting such a terrible season. Many of these guys played another season or two, but with reduced playing time or changing positions.

The big question is: what happens to Varitek after this season? If I remember correctly, he's playing in the last year of his contract right now, and he's represented by Scott Boras. He's also team captain. On the one hand, I can't imagine Boston letting him go. On the other hand, he's become one of the worst regular players in the league. The Red Sox already jettisoned one bad catcher in Doug Mirabelli...is it time for them to repeat that act?

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