Sox remain in hunt for catcher to pair with Ross

BOSTON -- Though some solid catchers have come off the free-agent market in recent days, Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington remains confident his team will have a good complement to David Ross for next season.

Cherington had dialogue with both Carlos Ruiz and Brian McCann before the former re-signed with the Phillies and the latter signed a five-year deal with the Yankees.

"We kind of thought that might be a position that moved quicker just because there seemed to be sort of a set of teams and a set of somewhat comparable, somewhat equal players and the musical chairs would start," said Cherington on Monday night. "I guess that leaves us still talking. We have interest in a small handful of free agents. We've also talked to teams about trades.

"And we also think we're in a pretty strong position long-term with the young catching we have in the organization and so we have, we're in a position to be a little choosy, a little selective. If we could do something there, we'd love to. So we'll see what happens."

What about bringing Jarrod Saltalamacchia back?

"He's certainly one of the guys we've talked to, continue to have an open door with, spoken to him pretty consistently -- or spoken to his representative -- since the season ended. Hopefully that continues," Cherington said. "He's doing the same thing we are, just trying to see what's out there for him, too."

As for McCann, who could become a prominent player in the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, Ross did try to sell his former teammate on joining Boston instead.

"I talked to Brian. I tried to tell him the good parts about Boston, that it's a top-notch organization, I think they put the players first, just things like that," Ross said. "I definitely was lobbying but not like, 'Hey, man, you've got to come here,' because it comes down to him and his family. That's a big difference."

Though Cherington didn't want to get into the specifics with his dialogue with McCann, the Yankees obviously made a bigger push.

"I think it came down to years. When you add an option for six, it puts you at almost $100 [million], that's a game-changer," Ross said. "And then when you talk about the short porch, I think he was excited about playing in that stadium long-term."