Mr. Mean.

The Projo has a nice little article on exactly what Victor Martinez meant to his former teammates. Essentially, they seem to feel that without Martinez, Cleveland became a rudderless ship. And that they were treading water waiting for someone to take charge. It has to be difficult: To be sputtering along and suddenly find yourself in a class of organic chemistry students without a teacher that's still expected to pass the final.

And to see his affect on the Red Sox clubhouse you need to look no further than David Ortiz. Victor Martinez comes over and shares elaborate handshakes with David and Papi starts hitting again for real. Plus, he seems like just a really good guy in general.

The reason I bring it up though is Martinez's description of Jason Varitek:

“You play against him, and he looks kind of mean. That’s the way he plays. He’s one of the guys I always looked up to. He’s pretty smart, he knows what he’s doing, and all the things he’s done for this organization, no one’s going to take that away from him."

“When I got here, it kind of surprised me, because I never knew that was the kind of person that he is. He’s great, great. He’s been there for me the whole time.

It made me smile because that was the impression that I had of Varitek, as well. I could imagine him being a bully when he was in school and I can't imagine anyone ever telling him to "go suck an egg." When, in reality, he's not a bad guy; he's a decent human being--albeit one with flaws.