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.

Congratulate The Cardinals

Congratulations, St. Louis, on your 10th World Series win. You went into that series the underdog, and with a little bit of grit and grime you managed to knock out the Goliath of the American League. David Eckstein, you will always be one of my favorites. Now, just enjoy the victory, and don't worry about what the media says.

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Old Hickory

The Red Sox announced the signing of a one-year, $2.8 million contract with Mike Timlin today, meaning the typically steady-handed Timlin will once again be one of the mainstays of the Sox bullpen. Timlin's 2006 performance, like everyone else's, was haunted by injury to his right shoulder. He posted a 4.36 ERA through 64.0 IP, his lowest inning total since 1999, when he was in Baltimore. As always, it's not the ERA that's the problem, as his K/9, OBA and FB% really took a turn for the worse. Still, this is a good signing by the Sox, in my humble opinion. If healthy, Timlin has proven that he's relatively reliable, and his demeanor has certainly earned the respect and support of Sox fans. Given the way bullpen signings have backfired on Theo in recent years, the fact that Timlin is as close to a known commodity is about as comforting a scenario as you can get. Welcome back, Mike.

No Mad Dash: Selig Lands The Big One Two Months Early

"I think you always have a better relationship when both sides are making money," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said before the Tigers played St. Louis, with the Series tied at one game each.

"That kind of always seems to work out in the end -- doesn't it? -- for whatever reason, when the owner's happy and putting a little in his pocket, and the player is happy and putting a little in his pocket. In our case, I guess in our game, a lot in both pockets." (ESPN.com)

Love him or hate him, Bud Selig has really done it this time: he landed a five year labor agreement with the MLBPA that will last all the way through the 2011 season. As Selig himself mentioned, the negotiations went off with almost no leaks or rumors, something that hasn't been done in a while. Check that, ever. Of course, it doesn't hurt that baseball is currently raking in the green, thanks not only to the explosion of corporate sponsorships and the meteoric rise of MLB.com, but also to the success (albeit limited) of the revenue sharing system. (Note: Want to know exactly how all this works? Check out Andrew Zimbalist's In The Best Interests of Baseball. It'll tell you everything you need to know about Selig, his office, and where baseball is actually headed.)

There aren't a whole lot of major changes to the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), but there are a number of notable ones, and since it's just basic reporting, here's a fancy-schmancy list put together by the Associated Press:

Luxury Tax • Thresholds for luxury tax on team payrolls set at $148 million for 2007, $155 million for 2008, $162 million in 2009, $170 million in 2010 and $178 million in 2001. Tax rates on amount over threshold remain at 22.5 percent for first time over threshold, 30 percent for second time over threshold, 40 percent for third or subsequent time over threshold.

Amateur Draft • Players selected in the June amateur draft who aren't college seniors must sign by Aug. 15.

Minimum Salary • Major league minimum increases from $327,000 this year to $380,000 in 2007, $390,000 in 2008, $400,000 in 2009 and $400,000 plus a two-year cost-of-living adjustment in 2011.

Free Agent Draft Pick Compensation• Draft-pick compensation for losing Type C free agents is eliminated. Compensation for Type B free agents is changed from direct (losing draft picks) to indirect (sandwich picks). Starting in 2007, Type A free agent redefined to top 20 percent at position (from top 30 percent) and Type B to 21-40 percent (from top 31-50 percent).

Free Agent Deadlines• The restriction is eliminated that said teams could only re-sign their former players who became free agents by Dec. 7 (or Jan. 8 if offered salary arbitration) or else lose rights until May 1. Deadline for clubs to offer salary arbitration to their former players who became free agents is moved to Dec. 1 from Dec. 7. The deadline for players offered arbitration to accept offers is moved to Dec. 7 from Dec. 19.

Tender Deadline• The deadline for teams to offer contracts for the following season to unsigned players on their 40-man rosters is moved to Dec. 12 from Dec. 20.

To note, the restructuring of draft pick compensation (top 30% to top 20% for Type A FA's) will surely affect how many players are offered empty arbitration, so that a situation like that with Tony Graffanino from the beginning of the 2006 season will be less likely to occur. Reason being, unless a player is in the top 20% at their position, they won't be offered arbitration unless a team really wants them back without the hassles of dealing directly with an agent. Under this system, my guess is Graffanino would've been a free agent to open spring training.

The changes to the Amateur Draft signing rules really put the ball back in the court of the clubs, taking away a large chunk of leverage from young draftees looking to get the most out of their pick. 'Want to go to college? Be our guest, we have plenty of time to work on a backup plan. '

The biggest deal of all of this is, really, the fact that this all happened under the radar. Until the beginning of the World Series, people really had no idea. He's a sly one, he is, that Bud.

Should We Care About His Hand?

The short answer, obviously, is "No," because after Kenny Rogers washed his hands clean of that mysterious substance he still spun more innings of shutout baseball than he had in his entire career prior to the start of this October.

The long answer, we all know, is "Yes." We should care for several reasons: first, because it really tarnishes what Rogers has done thus far on the hill, which is be nothing short of remarkable. For all the students of mine who have approached with cries of "Kenny Rogers is garbage!", I can't help but continue to point out his success this season. And we have to admit, it's uncanny. We'd all like to point to Rogers as a mid-life baseball success story, a man overcoming the odds to really go to the line for his city and his team. But as Jayson Stark of ESPN writes, this whole "Dirtgate" thing is, *ahem*, muddying the waters.

This is nowhere near as important as the steroids controversy or the lack of parity generated by a team fielding a $200 million dollar payroll, but it is significant in what it does to the perception of baseball in this, the spotlight of spotlights. The Tigers are everybody's Cinderella, the urchin-turned-belle-of-the-ball riding blue-collar grit and old-fashioned baseball know-how to a World Series spot. Everybody is cheering for them, including yours truly, who, though a closet Cardinals fan, would be very happy to see the Tigers bring one home. Rogers has personified the entire season, turning postseason failure into jaw-dropping success. If he can't clarify just what exactly was on his hand during last night's game, then suffice to say it will, at the very least, tarnish what should be a gem of a game, and maybe even taint the entire Tigers run.

I don't think we should flip out over it, but it sure would be nice to know for sure, wouldn't it?

Look Familiar?

The mightily flawed St. Louis Cardinals defeated the equally vulnerable New York Metropolitans last night, 3-1, in a decisive Game 7 held inside the cavernous eyesore that is Shea Stadium. It was The Night of The Two Pitchers who, without the usual pedigree, managed to go deep into the night without allowing either offense to take hold. It was the night of The Fantastic Play, where Endy Chavez robbed Scott Rolen of a 2 run home run by climbing the center field wall, reaching out his harm, and literally pulling the ball back from the chasm and into the ball yard. It was also The Night of Wasted Chances, with men in scoring position looking more like fixtures on the horizon that wanderers itching to find their way home. It was, to be sure, a joy to watch, with a 1-1 tie carried all the way up to the top of the 9th inning, when it suddenly became The Night of The Unlikely Hero, Yadier Molina, who happened to be one of the few Redbirds swinging the bat with any sort of consistency.

Unfortunately, though my Redbirds punched their ticket to the big dance, it looks as if this is just going to be another walk in the park for the Junior Circuit Rep. Even without a Game 7, neither the Cardinals nor the Mets had the horses in the rotation to compete with a lineup firing on all cylinders like that of the Tigers. Now that LaRussa was forced to throw Jeff Suppan last night to stack the odds in his favor, their rotation has to be built around availability instead of ability, meaning we won't see Carpenter, Suppan or Weaver until Game 2. Who's going to step in? It can't be Anthony Reyes, though he did manage to shut down the White Sox in a 1-0 interleague loss. So, the honor must go to someone like Jason Marquis, who, I think, changed his middle name to "Inconsistent."

If you add the DH, the rest, and the home field start for Detroit, it's hard to bet against them in this, the 102nd World Series.

Once again, go Cardinals.

I Feel So Much Better

Whew. I'm not gonna lie, this is probably the best thing that could have happened outside of the Sox going all the way. The Yankees were eliminated from the 2006 playoffs by the upstart Detroit Tigers, the same Tigers that were swept last weekend by those pesky Royals. Now, I realize this is a somewhat immature stance to take, reveling in the misery of my enemies, but hey, when a team is stacked with 3 future Hall of Famers and an All-Star at every position and they don't procede past the first round of the playoffs, it's enjoyable. We spent all season wishing in our heart of hearts we had a lineup something like the one the Bombers pushed out to the field, and now the big boys are riding the pine on the sideline like the rest of us.

Go Cardinals.

The Passing of an Ambassador

For the majority of Americans, and the lion's share of baseball enthusiasts, the Negro Leagues are little more than a novelty. To Buck O'Neil, however, the Negro Leagues were a reality, his reality, and while most today were too late to have any sort of personal connection, O'Neil was "right on time." John 'Buck' O'Neil died tonight in a Kansas City hospital. He was 94.

O'Neil's life and mission was to promote, in any and every way possible, the game he loved so much. Through the Negro Leagues Hall of Fame and Museum, O'Neil has left an indelible mark on a generation of baseball fans. He was present at the induction ceremonies in Cooperstown, and spoke on behalf of the 17 Negro Leaguers inducted into the Hall, including Effa Manley, the first woman. He was renowned for his ability to tell a story, and let me tell you, he could read the weather report and make you want to sit and listen. He was just one of those men.

He may not be in the Hall, but he will always be remembered. And do yourself a favor: get some good, old-fashioned learning.