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Jason Varitek will only be back with a smaller salary. His $40 million, four-year deal ran out this year.

.220 Jason Varitek's batting average in 2008, the lowest of his career.

The day finally has arrived: Decision '08. Media outlets around the country will breathlessly track today's election results to see which way the nation is heading.

Which way are you casting your vote? Do you want Jason Varitek back behind the plate, or are you looking for change?

The Red Sox captain wasted no time filing for free agency, immediately letting every front office know he's available to discuss the possibility of catching for a new team next season.

Whether or not there is actually a market for Varitek remains to be seen. Super-agent Scott Boras will no doubt make it sound like teams are lining up to bid for his services. And, with the current state of catching in the game, there will be teams interested to be sure.

With baseball's general managers' meetings in California this week, Boras will be doing his best to land an economic stimulus package for the Varitek family. It might be hard to achieve considering the offensive recession the catcher has been going through.

In 2008, Varitek hit a mere .220, the lowest batting average of his career. His 13 home runs were the second-fewest he's hit in the last six years. His on-base and slugging percentages were at all-time lows, too.

Varitek has represented the Red Sox well for more than 10 years, and deserves every bit of praise he's received for getting the most out of starting pitchers, young and old. That said, he'll turn 37 in April and is showing the effects of age – long after most players would have worn down.

The sad truth is that backup Kevin Cash had a higher batting average than Varitek this season. He also was much better at throwing out base runners – 16 of the 54 attempted stealers this season; Varitek threw out 16 of 72. Cash did this while catching Tim Wakefield, and any catcher will tell you trying to throw someone out off the knuckleball is a nightmare.

Oh, by the way, Cash is seven years younger than Varitek and made about $9.5 million less than the captain did in 2008.

There are not many replacements available on the free-agent market. Ivan Rodriguez was a huge disappointment when he joined the Yankees this season.

Josh Bard didn't electrify Red Sox Nation in his stint here in 2006.

If the Sox are going to rejuvenate their stockpile of catchers, they will have to do it through a trade. Everyone knows Texas (Gerald Laird, Taylor Teagarden, Jarrod Saltalamacchia) has a surplus of catchers and is in dire need of pitching.

Would you trade Clay Buchholz for Saltalamacchia? It might come to that.

Is there a place for Varitek on the 2009 Red Sox? Absolutely. If he and Boras are willing to accept a one- or two-year deal at a greatly reduced rate, the Sox will bring him back. They will still look to add another younger catcher and use Varitek as a mentor to bring him along. 'Tek would return to finish off his career here, and bridge the gap until that young catcher – or minor leaguer Mark Wagner – is ready to take over the job on a daily basis.

But, if Varitek is looking for four more years, the Red Sox will elect to go a different way. After all, it's never easy for an incumbent to return when the numbers are trending downward, and the Red Sox are hoping their offensive contributions from the catcher's position have hit rock bottom.

Tom Caron is the studio host for Red Sox broadcasts on the New England Sports Network. His column appears in the Press Herald on Tuesdays.