Jarrod Saltalamacchia simply didn’t receive an offer he liked from the Boston Red Sox.
Saltalamacchia, who signed a three-year, $21 million contract with the Miami Marlins over the offseason, told The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo on Wednesday that he was “disappointed” the Red Sox made the lowest offer among the teams that bid for the catcher’s services in free agency.
“We had a few options,” Saltalamacchia said. “No one was as low as the Red Sox. Out of six or seven, they were the lowest. I didn’t understand that. It is what it is. I was disappointed. They (Red Sox) offered a two-year deal, but not cut and dry. There were other things involved. Not a straight two-year deal.
“I was disappointed. I definitely wanted to stay. I enjoyed every minute that I was there. Guys go their whole career wanting to play there and never get a chance, let alone win a World Series when you’re there.”
Saltalamacchia spent three-plus seasons in Boston after being acquired at the trade deadline in 2010. The 28-year-old enjoyed a breakout season, offensively and defensively, in 2013, but the Red Sox instead decided to sign catcher A.J. Pierzynski to a one-year contract.
“I wasn’t asking for the moon,” Saltalamacchia said. “Based on what I got here. But they weren’t willing to go anywhere near that. I was shocked.
“The more I thought about it, I realized, based on how they felt, that they didn’t offer me anything during the year. I don’t think that was ever a goal for them. Wanting to go with their young guys seemed to be the major reason. That’s the only thing that made sense to me because I wasn’t asking for a lot. I wasn’t asking for $15, $13 or $12 million. I was just asking for what was fair. I’m 28. I still think of myself as a young catcher.”
The Red Sox currently have a surplus of young catchers — Christian Vazquez, Blake Swihart, Dan Butler and Ryan Lavarnway — in addition to veterans Pierzynski and David Ross.
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