The Boston Globe is reporting that the Boston Red Sox are close to signing back-up catcher Doug Mirabelli to a one-year deal. To which I can only respond..."why?" If you recall, the personal catcher to Tim Wakefield arrived back at Fenway in a State Police car just minutes before he was to start a game against the Yankees in May of 2006. And that was pretty much the biggest highlight of his second tour of duty with the Sox.Mirabelli hit just .193 in 161 at-bats in '06 and .202 in 114 at-bats last season. Not very compelling statistics to merit another season. But it has been Dougie's work behind the plate trying to tame Wake's knuckleball, not his prowess holding a bat, that has been his saving grace. But in his best offensive year in Boston (2004), he also led the league in passed balls (15) while throwing out just eight of the 46 attempted steals, a not-so-blistering 17%.
When you consider Wakefield's age, his injury last season, and the strength of the arms in Boston's farm system, it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to keep Mirabelli around. Throw in the fact that Varitek is getting a bit long-in-the-tooth for an everyday catcher - meaning the back-up might see more than every fifth-day duty - and it makes less sense. Is it really so important to block a few errant knucklers that it is worth putting an almost guaranteed out in the batting order? I think not.
The Red Sox will likely explore options going forward and the Mirabelli signing may just be an insurance policy. The free agent market for catchers is pretty weak, however. And even with the depth of the Red Sox minor league teams, a suitable back-up catcher isn't in the mix. Get used to Doug, Boston, at least every five days.
