Mirabelli Files For Free Agency

After signing a two year deal in the post-World Series glitter, being traded to the San Diego Padres for Mark Loretta, and then dealt back to the Red Sox at the beginning of the season for Josh Bard and Cla Meredith (both of whom went on to have success in San Diego), Doug Mirabelli has opted to file for free agency, the only Red Sox player to do so.

The immediate question, of course, is what will the Red Sox do about Tim Wakefield? This one, unfortunately, can't be answered until Spring Training rolls around and we see Wakefield toss with another catcher. That being said, let's turn to the one that can be answered:

Who will the Sox use as a backup catcher?

After the Josh Bard debacle, wherein we shipped a perfectly good young backup to the West Coast in a panicked move to stop the bleeding when Tim Wakefield started, we saw no production out of the backup spot. This typically wouldn't be a problem with a healthy starting catcher, but when Varitek went down with his knee injury and Mirabelli had to fill the everyday role, posting .191/.267/.328 is just abysmal.

Kelly Shoppach was probably the most legitimate option from within the system, showing home run power at the AAA level, but he was sent to Cleveland in the Crisp/Bard deal. Of the players that saw tim in Pawtucker, only Ken Huckaby and Corky Miller got significant ABs, with Huckaby posting .219/.239/.274 in 288 ABs and Miller .258/.343/.510 in 198 ABs. Neither option is particularly attractive for next year, considering both their age and their previous MLB exposure. The flashiest in-system replacement would be George Kottaras, the top notch prospect picked up from that frequent dance partner, the San Diego Padres, in the David Wells deal. Unfortunately, Kottaras is a year younger than me (23) and hasn't seen any action above AA. He almost definitely needs a season at AAA to develop.

That leaves free agents. Here's the list of potentials: Sandy Alomar, Jr., Paul Bako, Rod Barajas, Gary Bennett, Henry Blanco, Einar Diaz, Mike DiFelice, Robert Fick, Todd Greene, Tim Laker, Mike Lieberthal, Javy Lopez, Bengie Molina, Mike Piazza, Todd Pratt, Kelly Stinnett, Chris Widger, and Greg Zaun. Names that jump out on that list are both Blue Jays, Bengie Molina and Greg Zaun. Molina is likely to look for a starting job someplace, but since he pulled the same stunt last offseason and failed to find a true buyer with a multi-year deal, and so settled on just one year with the Jays. Zaun may be a more legitimate target as a backup backstop, a career .253/.345/.385, and a Red Sox killer. Heck, it might be worth it to sign Zaun just so he doesn't get 66% of his home runs of Red Sox pitching in 2007.

Of course, all of this goes away if Mirabelli decides to hold his knuckleball-catching skills over the front office's head and tries to get a lucrative one-year deal. And, of course, it's only October 28, so we've got a lot of time to talk about it.