Heart and soul

On an otherwise slow news day, two surprising stories broke late in the afternoon involving two of the longest-tenured members of the SoxandPhils:

Jason Varitek laced them up and went ice skating at Fenway Park, and the Phillies picked up their 2011 option on Jimmy Rollins.

According to reports, Tek seems content to be coming back and serving as the backup to Victor Martinez. That's good. He is no longer an asset as a starting catcher, but I'm certainly pleased to have him stick with the team in a more appropriate role given his diminished ability.

Varitek knows he's going to be skating on the second line, but if called on to provide more, he'll be prepared:

"Just seeing it in a different role and seeing how my body adapts to maybe the less pounding, the less physical grind, that might be a good time for me to transition," Varitek said. "I'm preparing as I always do, to be able to handle as much as i can. So I'll prepare for a full-time role even though it's dictated in another way. That way if something happens, I'm ready to go.

"I don't think I'll change my pride in my work. I don't think that's going to change, just maybe the playing time is going to change. It's also some dynamics of flexibility. We have a pretty dynamic lineup [with] a lot of moving parts. Don't know exactly how that's all going to play out. Know that going into it that Vic's going to play the majority of the time. For me, I kind of got in that role last year, so I had two months to kind of get used to it."

One more year: J-Roll, meanwhile, gets $8.5 million to stay with the Phillies in 2011. Christine and I often forget how underpaid he has been. Even last year, one of his worst, J-Roll was worth $10.8 million, according to FanGraphs. He was paid $8.5 million.

The signing isn't all rosy, however, because it means the Phillies have nearly $110 million committed to 11 players - leaving $30 million to fill out the roster in 2011. I don't think you should get used to seeing Jayson Werth in right field after this year.

Speaking of cost control: I thought Cliff Lee sounded really uppity when ESPN's Mike Missanelli pressed him during an interview for details about the contract the Phillies offered him. He sounds like someone who was jilted and won't take any responsibility for the breakup.

[Photo credit: Boston Globe]