No deals for Varitek

As the first day of baseball’s winter meetings droned on yesterday in the city of slot machines and neon-lit pipe dreams, the number of possibilities continued to dwindle for free agent catcher Jason Varitek.

Varitek, who rejected the club’s offer of arbitration that would have guaranteed him a one-year contract worth upwards of $10 million, watched as Detroit dealt for catcher Gerald Laird and the Dodgers essentially took a pass on the accomplished backstop.

The potential landing spots for Varitek are shrinking for the catcher and agent Scott Boras, but the duo remain hopeful a multi-year deal is still in the offing for a 36-year-old that hit a disappointing .220 last year.

The Tigers, one of the few teams with a potential need and the money to satisfy Varitek’s contract wishes, admitted Boston’s arbitration offering all but killed any interest they had in the catcher. The cost of the contract along with the price of a first-round draft pick — the tariff for any team by virtue of Varitek’s Class A free agent status — was simply too rich for Detroit GM Dave Dombrowski’s blood.

“[Varitek] was a guy that was one of the names that we looked at as being a free agent,” said Dombrowski. “He is a guy, when we looked at the situation for us, once he was offered arbitration that probably put a big dent in any pursuit we might have had.

“[The Tigers didn’t want] a situation where you would have to give away a high-ranking draft choice for us.”

With Varitek a question mark to return to the Fens at this point, the Sox are still actively pursuing a deal with several different teams for young catching, with the Rangers, Diamondbacks and Indians chief among those both armed with backstops and willing to deal. Though names like Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero and Angels catcher Jeff Mathis have entered the surprisingly abundant mix, the Sox are still most actively pursuing Rangers backstops Taylor Teagarden and Jarrod Saltalamacchia.