Lucchino: Sox waiting on Varitek, Wakefield

Red Sox president and CEO Larry Lucchino, in an appearance on Sirius/XM MLB Network Radio's "Inside Pitch," said that the team is hopeful that catcher Jason Varitek and pitcher Tim Wakefield will make decisions about their career course by the start of spring training. Lucchino said that both veterans have been invited to take part in spring training with the Sox, presumably on minor league deals that would not offer either a guaranteed job.

"We're hopeful that those guys will make decisions before spring training starts as to whether they would like to come back. They have each been invited to come to camp. But Tim is approaching his 46th year I think. Jason Varitek is approaching his 40th year. Those things are hard decisions. They have both been enormously valuable to the club," said Lucchino. "Whenever they choose to retire -- and retirement is inevitable at some point, obviously, whether it's this year or its next year -- we will always have a place of respect and admiration in the Red Sox organization. But the decisions are now kind of in their hands as to what they'd like to do in this particular season."

Lucchino touched on several other topics, including his effort to set the record straight about team payroll (which he said will be a record high in 2012), the status of Carl Crawford and the likelihood of an arbitration hearing with slugger David Ortiz. For more highlights from the interview, visit the Full Count blog. For complete Red Sox coverage, visit weei.com/redsox.