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BP Annual Player Comments

Year		Comment
2008		Varitek can't catch the knuckleball, but as long as the Sox employ Tim Wakefield, they need someone who can. Still, it doesn't have to be Mirabelli, who strikes out in a third of his at-bats these days. Popular is nice; runs are better.
2007		Attempting to shed Tim Wakefield`s personal valet, the Sox swapped Mirabelli to San Diego in exchange for Mark Loretta. The Padres scrapped plans to start him when they snagged Mike Piazza on the cheap; Mirabelli sulked, and started agitating Kevin Towers for a deal. Meanwhile, back in Boston, Josh Bard`s monumental struggles to catch Wakefield`s knuckleball (10 passed balls in five starts) induced Epstein to hastily reacquire Mirabelli, but Theo drastically overpaid by parting with Bard, Cla Meredith, and $100,000 cash. Once Wakefield and then Jason Varitek went down, the Sox were left with a sub-Mendozoid backup of decreased utility, while the Pads had obtained key ingredients for their NL West title run. Showing little imagination, the Sox re-signed Mirabelli to a one-year deal in December.
2006		The backup catcher goes by the nickname "The Stud Who Hits Bombs" on the popular Sons of Sam Horn message board. Last season he hit fewer bombs, and also lost a few weeks to a wrist injury. Despite being Wakefield`s designated catcher, he didn`t lead the league in passed balls for the first time since 2002. He`s a fine reserve who would hit better if he was used in a strict platoon against lefties. He`ll get the chance to start in San Diego, but he might find Petco Park less to his liking than Fenway.
2005		Being a backup catcher is kind of like being a long reliever, but without all the trouble of having to keep your arm in an ice bucket or the whiplash when you give up a home run. Mirabelli once again settled into the role of Wakefield's personal caddy, posting career highs in most offensive categories in the process. The Sox re-signed him pretty early with Varitek an uncertainty at the time. He'll return to being one of the better backup catchers in the game, even while his numbers figure to drop precipitously.
2004		Mirabelli usually has a huge platoon split, but he didn 't last season. Because he's been Tim Wakefield's catcher, the Red Sox have not gotten any benefit out of this split-he starts against whoever happens to be pitching that day. He edged out Jorge Posada for the league lead in passed balls (14-13), although, trying to catch Wakefield's knuckler, he has a pretty good excuse.
2003		Mirabelli has an amazing platoon split, hitting for better than a 1.000 OPS against LHP over the last four years. Jason Varitek struggles against LHP with roughly a .700 OPS over that time. That ought to suggest some sort of ad hoc platoon, giving Varitek some much-needed rest while boosting the offensive production from the position. Instead, Grady Little designated Mirabelli to be Wakefield’s caddy. Go figure.
2002		Mirabelli was an offensive star for the Sox, but that obscured two important facts. One is that he’s never hit like this before, so we’re probably looking at a small-sample fluke. The other is that the Sox gave up Justin Duchscherer, a real pitching prospect, for a mediocre backup catcher after passing up all sorts of free catching talent available on waivers or through free agency, such as Ramon Castro, Sal Fasano, Tom Wilson, and Creighton Gubanich. Pitching prospects are scarce. Backup catchers with pop aren’t.
2001		Doug Mirabelli can hit better than he showed in 2000. He's about two seasons away from being a certified backup catcher, a role for which he's well suited.
2000		He's 29 years old now, and the Giants have never really given him a chance. He isn't good enough to be a regular at the major-league level, but he could be one of the best #2 catchers in the game, which is higher praise than it sounds. Mirabelli will split the Giants’ catching job with Bobby Estalella--picked up from the Phillies for an old whirlpool and some sunflower seeds--and should play less than that projection indicates.
1999		Mirabelli has shown occasional signs that he would make a good, inexpensive part-time option at catcher. As the projection above shows, the Giants could do worse than give him the opportunity.
1997		Posted a big year in Shreveport in 1996, and is considered by some in the organization to be a better receiver than Jensen. If true, he’ll reach the bigs in late 1997. If not, he’ll probably get converted to another position and fade out of baseball. Make or break year. If he can retain a little of that 1996 performance, he’ll make the bigs and stay there. Might even make a few bucks.

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