There were a few different milestones throughout the Boston Red Sox season in 2026. That included the 32-5 stretch and how they played after clinching a postseason berth. Of course, the biggest milestone ended up being the firing of manager Alex Cora in late April.
When the Red Sox fired Cora, it was widely seen as a move by CBO Craig Breslow to try to save his job and win a power struggle. Part of that struggle was removing the coaches who Cora was close to, totaling five additional assistants. Among them was Jason Varitek.
Varitek had been in the Red Sox organization since 1997 as a player. He spent his entire 15 year MLB career in Boston, becoming a legend along the way for Red Sox fans. He then quickly moved into a front office role in 2012 under Ben Cherington. Following the 2020 season, he joined the coaching staff under Cora.
Because of who Varitek is and what he’s meant to Red Sox fans, his firing in particular was very unpopular. So, instead of outright firing him, the team claimed he would be getting reassigned to a new role. However, in the immediate aftermath of the firing, he appeared with the other coaches in pictures. He also posted pictures over the summer on vacation, decidedly not in a different role within the organization.
Boston Red Sox Ownership on the Current Role for Jason Varitek
The topic of Varitek’s role came up on Monday. That’s when the Red Sox held their annual end-of-season press conference. However, Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy still doesn’t have an update.
“We’ve connected with each other, but we’ve got no update on that,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy was then asked to clarify. Is Varitek currently a member of the Red Sox organization?
“He is not,” Kennedy admitted. “But look forward to continuing dialogue as we go forward.”
This, perhaps, shouldn’t be a major surprise. There hadn’t been any updates over the course of the season about any potential new roles for Varitek. On top of that, MassLive reported in April that he had never actually been assigned to a new role. However, Varitek himself didn’t comment publicly.
Catherine Varitek Responded to the Red Sox Getting Eliminated
In the end, the Red Sox had effectively the same season as they did a year ago. They lost to the New York Yankees in the Wild Card round. The only difference is they didn’t even win one game this time around in the Bronx.
One person who seemed to take notice of that was the wife of Jason Varitek, Catherine Varitek. She had a brief post in the wake of the elimination, reading, “How we doing?!?!” There was also a smiley face emoji.
Many read this as a bit of a taunt about how the season ended up, given that her husband was fired. Along with some previous posts she’s made, it seems like there is still some frustration with how the organization has handled things. That frustration may very well be why Varitek hasn’t taken on a new role with the Red Sox.
Red Sox Ownership Clarifies Where Jason Varitek Stands With Organization