Red Sox President and CEO, Larry Lucchino, recently spoke on a bundle of topics via Alex Speier of WEEI. Among the topics were: the Luxury tax, team payroll, the contract status of Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield, David Ortiz's arbitration and whether the team regrets spending $142 on Carl Crawford.

On Varitek and Wakefield:

"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."

On Ortiz:

"It looks like we're going to do that barring some last-minute settlement, and then we'll move on. But he's a signed player for the Red Sox no matter what happens. It's just a question of whether he gets paid X or he gets paid Y for 2012."

On Crawford:

"And he is going to be a key player and a key performer for this team both in 2012 and for several years thereafter. We still have a lot of optimism about the Carl Crawford who will take the field in 2012.

[snip]

"We just prefer to rely on the body of work that Carl has behind him. I think he's going to make an enormous contribution and become a very popular player here in Boston."

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