Whether veteran free-agent catcher Jason Varitek will continue his playing career remains uncertain, but Boston Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington made clear Thursday that he wants him to remain with the organization in some role.

“We have incredible respect for Tek. I have incredible respect for Tek on a personal level. We, as an organization and ownership, have incredible respect for him and for the contributions he’s made.

“Our hope is that Tek will always be a part of the Red Sox in some way. As far as what position he’s in immediately, what we want to do is keep talking to Tek and not discuss that in a public forum. We’ll continue to talk to Scott [Boras] and Tek and figure out what’s best for the Red Sox, and what’s best for him. We look forward to doing that.”

Currently, the club has depth at the catching position with Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Kelly Shoppach and Ryan Lavarnway as the top three heading into spring training. It’s unclear how the 39-year-old Varitek, who has spent 15 seasons in Boston, would fit in, unless it was perhaps an off-field role with the organization.

Cherington and manager Bobby Valentine recently retained the services of bullpen coach and catching instructor Gary Tuck for the 2012 season.

When the Red Sox signed Shoppach, 31, to a one-year deal worth $1.35 million earlier this week, it almost certainly signaled the end of Varitek’s playing career in Boston.

“Obviously we know Shop well and as we went into the offseason we felt like there were a couple of things that were important to us in regards to the catching position,” explained Cherington. “One was to continue to find ways to help in the running game and to help control the running game, which was an area of concern for us last year. Shop’s been able to help pitching staffs control the running game and has been pretty consistent throughout his career."

Shoppach led the American League by throwing out 41 percent of attempted base-stealers. Varitek threw out just 14 percent. Saltalamacchia threw out about 31 percent. Shoppach also makes sense as a complement to Saltalamacchia in that he hits left-handed pitching well. Among active catchers, Shoppach's career .909 OPS against lefties is fourth-highest in the majors.

“He’s a guy that consistently hits left-handed pitching and that makes him a good complement to Salty,” Cherington said. “We also felt like in a perfect world we would look to solidify the catching position by adding strengths to that area and not necessarily counting on Lavarnway going into spring training. With that said, we really think highly of Ryan and think he’s going to be a really good player for us in the future. Shop helps us strengthen the position overall and helps complement Salty.”