Jarrod Saltalamacchia free agency: Catcher ‘surprised’ Red Sox haven’t called

Saltalamacchia did not receive a qualifying offer from the Red Sox and says the team has yet to contact him about a new contract.

by Noah Jarosh

Nov 5, 2013, 4:01 PM UTC

Gail Oskin

Free agent catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia is disappointed that the Boston Red Sox have not reached out in an effort to re-sign him, reports Rob Bradford at WEEI.

Saltalamacchia, 28, was not offered a qualifying offer by Boston after a season in which he hit .273/.338/.466 with 14 home runs. He has been the team’s starting backstop each of the past three years, but the Red Sox do not appear to be heavily invested in him. Still, Saltalamacchia says his first preference would be to return to the reigning champions.

Over the Monster: Are we overrating Saltalamacchia? No qualifying offer a mistake

He says he has received calls from other teams already, expressing an appreciation that other teams see him as a player who can help. While Saltalamacchia admits he may be “premature” in expressing his feelings, he is upset that the Red Sox are not one of those teams.

“It would feel good if the Red Sox … we really haven’t had any conversation with them,” Saltalamacchia told reporters. “It would be nice to have them call and appreciate that as well and show their appreciation by saying, ‘This is what we’re willing to do. We’re willing to go to this, that and the other thing.’ We really haven’t had discussions.”

“I’m a little surprised with not more conversation going on just because I thought we had a common idea of where we wanted to be. I put so much time and effort into the team and into the organization and they’ve done the same for me. But like I said, I may be premature and they might call out of nowhere, or might have already called and I just don’t know yet.”

If Saltalamacchia does not return to Boston, the team could become big players for Braves free agent Brian McCann. The only other catcher on the team's roster is David Ross. Saltalamacchia may be the next best backstop on the market to McCann.