Curt Schilling believes that the Red Sox need to re-sign free-agent catcher Jason Varitek this offseason. "There's a lot of reasons," Schilling said of why he thinks Varitek hasn't been re-signed yet. "I think [the Red Sox] went into this winter very intent on trying to find that catcher of the future. I think the plan was to offer 'Tek arbitration and have a trade made for a kid ... somebody to bring in for the next year or two because I think that the initial plan was to offer [Varitek] arbitration. [They thought,] 'Of course he's going to accept it,' and then next year, they might be in this spot. "I think they were going to start to wane the staff off of a Jason Varitek and onto the catcher of the future." Varitek had a rough 2008 offensively, but Schilling believes that his presence behind the plate is vital to Boston's success. "I think you're looking at about $45 million invested in this pitching staff next year, and if your catcher doesn't work with your pitching staff, it's not one player that has a down year, an off season, it's potentially the entire staff," Schilling continued. "That might be overstating how many guys would have good or bad seasons based on Jason being back there, but I'm very comfortable with saying that there is very little chance that every guy on that staff won't be better if he's back this year. He's the kind of guy that makes you as good as you can be each start. "Jason knows us as good, if not better, than some of us know ourselves."