The arrival of Victor Martinez

Glad to see Victor Martinez assured himself a warm welcome when he first starts at Fenway next week. His was the acquisition I had hoped for this trade deadline, thinking he could be the eventual replacement for Varitek, but then I read suggestions that he cannot catch full-time any more (MLBTR commenters, not worthy of a specific link). I have found no explanation of this and would welcome comments. It hadn't occurred to me that his arrival could lead to Tek's ($5m) option for next year being bought out (for $3m) until it was suggested -- which surely implies Martinez can catch plenty of games. Sentimentality commits me to hope that Tek does stay with the team for one more year, and Epstein's admirable tendency to build redundancy into the squad suggests that will happen.

Seeing Kottaras being placed on the DL alongside Wakefield reminded me of the ancient Egyptian practice of burying slaves with their masters, even if they were still alive -- though this is thankfully a temporary variant. Given the rules, it seems the out-of-options Kottaras chose the only way to keep himself in the Red Sox organisation. Good for him.