Sox to Re-Sign Mirabelli to One-Year Deal

[BoSox21]

The Red Sox will re-sign Doug Mirabelli to a one-year deal worth about $550,000.

 

Incentives could bring the value of the deal up to $1 million or so. If the Red Sox seriously contemplated any other free agent backups this winter, they kept it quiet. Mirabelli has pretty much lost it offensively, but he still does a nice job of handling Tim Wakefield's knuckler. If Jason Varitek stays healthy, the Red Sox should be fine

 

Rotoworld

[das11209]

So Theo pretty much gave up getting a catcher through trade?

[Jayhawk Bill]

There goes a forty-man roster spot.

 

The projections for Doug Mirabelli in 2008 actually aren't that bad. First, the Marcels:

 

.220/.300/.380, 9 HR, 34 RBI

 

Marcels are strictly done by formula, so there's nothing subjective here. Now, Bill James:

 

.208/.291/.383, 5 HR, 16 RBI

 

Bill James sees Mirabelli getting 120 AB, not the 255 projected by the Marcels, and we all know that he's about right. Mirabelli isn't getting extra games as a DH, and he'll catch just one of five pitchers, one game each doubleheader, and the day games after night games. Furthermore, Mirabelli is a good candidate for a DL trip sometime this season.

 

Still, that Bill James batting line differs little from the Marcels batting line excepting playing time, and it would be his best batting line in three years if he earned it. I'd agree that Mirabelli is likely to do a little better: even understanding how slow he is, his BABIP should be higher than the two-year .253 he's posted given how many line drives he hits, and his HR/FB% should be well above-average given his power, not the near-average 11.7% it's been for two seasons.

 

I'll still miss that roster spot, though.

[das11209]

I have a baseball question - I honestly do not know the answer. I will appreciate if someone can tell me.

 

Let's say that Mirabelli is batting 9th and Ellsbury is batting 1st. If Belli gets on 2nd base and Jacoby on 1st base - and then Pedroia at the plate gets a hit - is it OK for Jacoby to overtake Belli to reach home plate? Or Jacoby will have to wait untill Belli touches plate which might take eternity?

 

May be off topic - but my baseball technical knowledge is poor and can use some enrichment from the gurus here.

[redsoxrules]

I have a baseball question - I honestly do not know the answer. I will appreciate if someone can tell me.

 

Let's say that Mirabelli is batting 9th and Ellsbury is batting 1st. If Belli gets on 2nd base and Jacoby on 1st base - and then Pedroia at the plate gets a hit - is it OK for Jacoby to overtake Belli to reach home plate? Or Jacoby will have to wait untill Belli touches plate which might take eternity?

 

May be off topic - but my baseball technical knowledge is poor and can use some enrichment from the gurus here.

 

yeah beli has to score first , if jacoby goes ahead of him he's out

[Jayhawk Bill]

I have a baseball question - I honestly do not know the answer. I will appreciate if someone can tell me.

 

Let's say that Mirabelli is batting 9th and Ellsbury is batting 1st. If Belli gets on 2nd base and Jacoby on 1st base - and then Pedroia at the plate gets a hit - is it OK for Jacoby to overtake Belli to reach home plate? Or Jacoby will have to wait untill Belli touches plate which might take eternity?

 

May be off topic - but my baseball technical knowledge is poor and can use some enrichment from the gurus here.

 

From the BR Bullpen:

 

Basic rules

A few fundamental rules apply:

 

Baserunners must touch each base in succession (i.e. first base, then second base, then third base, then home plate), without skipping any base;

 

There can never be two baserunners occupying the same base at one time; and

 

Baserunners cannot pass one another.

 

Failure to obey any of these rules results in one of the baserunners being declared out, either automatically or on appeal.

[das11209]

Thanks for the explanation - there is another reason not to re-sign Mirabelli.

[Jayhawk Bill]

Thanks for the explanation - there is another reason not to re-sign Mirabelli.

 

For the record, Doug Mirabelli only reached first base 26 times last year. If Ellsbury were right behind him, about ten of those times Ellsbury would reach leaving Mirabelli at second. How often would you expect a hit that would allow Ellsbury to score from first that wouldn't allow Mirabelli to score from second? :dunno:

 

Mirabelli is slow. So is Papi. It's not a big deal.

[Thumper]

For the record, Doug Mirabelli only reached first base 26 times last year. If Ellsbury were right behind him, about ten of those times Ellsbury would reach leaving Mirabelli at second. How often would you expect a hit that would allow Ellsbury to score from first that wouldn't allow Mirabelli to score from second? :dunno:

 

Mirabelli is slow. So is Papi. It's not a big deal.

 

Yeah but Papi most of the time hits the big fly and doesn't need to worry about base running. And even when he does, he can run when he wants too. Mirabelli on the other hand looks like he's about to have a heart attack halfway to third.

[das11209]

Yeah but Papi most of the time hits the big fly and doesn't need to worry about base running. And even when he does' date=' he can run when he wants too. Mirabelli on the other hand looks like he's about to have a heart attack halfway to third.[/quote']

 

Or he might tweak a hammy and never reach base.

[Cocos Disciples]

Ugh.

[schillingouttheks]

Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.

[redsoxrules]

as long as wakefield is on this team so will doug mirabelli

[YAZMAN]

I think we need the "Day In the Life of Doug Mirabelli" post.

 

Crunch? TMW? Who had that?

[schillingouttheks]

Kilo had a funny AIM convo type thing IIRC.

[VA Sox Fan]

I think we need the "Day In the Life of Doug Mirabelli" post.

 

Crunch? TMW? Who had that?

 

It was Crunch but the last one he posted wasn't as good as the original.

[Paradisecity]

"Dougie's goin' deep tonight"

[rician blast]

Here is an article that re-posts the "A Day in the Life..." deal, not sure if this is the original or not.

 

http://quinnmedia.blogspot.com/2006/07/day-in-life-of-doug-mirabelli.html

[YAZMAN]

I wish we had the archive files from the BH server. Wasn't Guns or somebody used to be able to access it through some back door? I never saved my billyboy/down on the corner or any of the other parody stuff I wrote.

[schillingouttheks]

"Dougie's goin' deep tonight"

 

Maybe into his wife, but I hear even she hates the way he handles the bat. :dunno:

[das11209]

For the record, Doug Mirabelli only reached first base 26 times last year. If Ellsbury were right behind him, about ten of those times Ellsbury would reach leaving Mirabelli at second. How often would you expect a hit that would allow Ellsbury to score from first that wouldn't allow Mirabelli to score from second? :dunno:

 

Mirabelli is slow. So is Papi. It's not a big deal.

 

I did not realize you would take me literally and get the stats - but I was just trying to make a point that he is dead slow. Yeah - we have Papi and Manny(with or without helmets) or Youk for that matter but I have never seen anyone run as slow as Dougie.

[das11209]

as long as wakefield is on this team so will doug mirabelli

 

Disagree - that's why we have Kevin Cash who defensively is as good if not better than Belli.

 

Now - if we just have to waste a roaster spot instead of getting a real second catcher - why not just promote Cash from AAA? Both Dougie or Cash will hardly reach base anyway.

[Jayhawk Bill]

I did not realize you would take me literally and get the stats - but I was just trying to make a point that he is dead slow. Yeah - we have Papi and Manny(with or without helmets) or Youk for that matter but I have never seen anyone run as slow as Dougie.

 

Hmmm...I don't have 2007 stats, but here are 2000-2006 baserunning stats for each of the players you cite, courtesy Dan Fox:

 

[table]Player | Net Runs

Mirabelli | -5.03

Ortiz | -16.95

Ramirez | -18.56

Youkilis | -1.58[/table]

 

You can only cost your team runs on the basepaths when you're actually on the basepaths, so it looks as if Dougie is indeed worse than Papi and Papi is worse than Manny, but Youk is roughly an MLB-average baserunner.

 

FWIW, the worst baserunner on the 2007 Red Sox was Mike Lowell at -6.34 runs, largely because he got caught a few times trying to advance on fly balls. The best was Coco Crisp at +8.60 runs, second-best in MLB.

[Ray10]

Dunno about this one. While he is a good pickup to have for when Wakefield pitches cause of that knuckleball. But offensively how good of a move was this he didn't put up the best numbers last year, and we prolly could have picked up a better catcher in a trade but I guess time will tell.

[Taliesin]

I wish we had the archive files from the BH server. Wasn't Guns or somebody used to be able to access it through some back door? I never saved my billyboy/down on the corner or any of the other parody stuff I wrote.

 

He still has the archives....allegedly. This is pure speculation from a disinterested third party who has no knowledge first hand or otherwise of the afore-mentioned individual nor his/her so-called proof or lack thereof of certain incriminating and non-incriminating ipso facto posts that may or may not have existed in cyberspace at one point or another, and will claim full immunity from prosecution if forced to testify before the committee. And the 5th. And the 2nd because it may come in handy.

[Taliesin]

Parody? We should have won Pulitzer's for some of that banter. The Shank and his lot and The Herald "writers" plagiarized our stuff (well some of us...not me necessarily..or not at all...just a few of the crew) w/ abandon. Par for the course at those "news" papers. Barnicle has been hanging around check cashing places in Roxbury for years from his house in Lincoln.

[Mr Crunchy]

hey

whats a fine piece of american woman doing in a place like this after 12?

mike barnicle

the street reporter from lincoln.....he wouldve starved to death if it wasnt for his brother

and when i hear him from time to time on the radio i can see his smugness thru the dashboard...

christ i hate him and the false way he presents himself

im not a radio guy anymore but i did like to listen to jay go off from time to time

howard stern reminds me of the over protected kid with asthma and glasses

 

id match my whack pack with his all day long

[TheKilo]

People who pine for Kevin Cash should not be taken seriously.

[Jayhawk Bill]

People who pine for Kevin Cash should not be taken seriously.

 

To the contrary, I think that Kevin Cash is well-situated to being somewhere in the Red Sox system, sitting on the pine.

 

FWIW, in over 40 years of watching baseball the only catchers I remember looking better on defense than Cash were Pudge Rodriguez and Tony Pena, when both were young. I think that holding onto Kevin Cash and keeping him acquainted with the knuckleball makes sense, as long as he can reliably support Wakefield if called upon to do so.

 

As an aside, since his right shoulder trouble in 2005, in 2006/2007 Cash has hit .180 in AAA and .111 in MLB. Given those MiLB stats, I really don't think that Cash is a .111 hitter at the MLB level: I think that he's a .160 hitter at the MLB level.

[TheKilo]

Agreed, JHB. Kevin Cash is an historically bad offensive catcher.