Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
May 01, 2006
Mirabelli's Back!

The Red Sox send Josh Bard away from Tim Wakefield and re-acquire Doug Mirabelli. (Thanks to Edward Cossette for the tip!)

The Boston Red Sox have finalized a trade to obtain catcher Doug Mirabelli from the San Diego Padres in exchange for catcher Josh Bard, minor-league pitcher Cla Meredith and cash, ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney is reporting.

In 96 minor league innings through 2005, Meredith did everything right as a pitcher. Seems like a good deal for the Padres, sweetened by the Yankees going after Doug as well.


Posted by David Pinto at 12:17 PM | Trades | TrackBack (0)
Comments

No sweetener there, Meredith is a slinger with kneecap-high ceiling.

Posted by: Tim at May 1, 2006 12:41 PM

I like it for both teams, and I'm not sure how much the Yankees really jacked up the price. I mean clearly San Diego was in the position of power; they were in no hurry to swap backup catchers and had no reason to be. Some might argue that Boston gave up long term value for a short term fix...but given that Meredith was probably never going to be anything but a decent MR, I think it's worth it. Meredith was probably only their 4th or 5th best RHP prospect anyway.

Further, Wake's basically got a lifetime contract, and Mirabelli will probably stick around until one of them decides to call it quits. As a backup, I don't see his ability to catch, which is really all he's here for, deteriorating quickly enough to make this a bad long-term deal, and given the fact that there was no guarantee Bard would ever do as good a job, adds short and long-term value to Wake as well.

PS: Meredith got shelled the other day...one bad outing doesn't mean anything but good karma for Boston. :)

Posted by: the other josh at May 1, 2006 12:44 PM

Wakey's peace of mind is worth more than Meredith every day of the week and twice on sunday. I just hope Bard eventually recovers from what was clearly some serious trauma. He's probably seeing tumblers in his sleep...

Posted by: Jared at May 1, 2006 01:01 PM

How is this anything but a win for the Sox? They fleeced the Padres when they got Lorretta for Mirabelli in the first place, and now get him back for a lesser catcher and a no name prospect.

Posted by: Brian at May 1, 2006 03:16 PM

More or less a forced move. Somebody has to catch Wakefield. Meredith put up a 1.55 whip at AAA in 2005 and a 1.54 so far this year, which doesn't bode well for his immediate future. I do like his strikeout-walk ratios, and he did just fine below AAA. Who knows, PETCO might make him look like Cy Young, if he ever gets to the big club.

Posted by: Casey Abell at May 1, 2006 04:20 PM

could say that Boston basically got rent-a-Mirabelli and Loretta for a few prospects

hope mirabelli enjoyed his month vacation in the sun out in san diego

Posted by: Brandon at May 1, 2006 04:37 PM

Yeah, but Loretta is sucking ass. His OPS is under .600. Looks like SD is having the last laugh.

Posted by: sabernar at May 1, 2006 06:36 PM

Yeah because Loretta clearly won't turn it around in the 5 and a half months left in the season.

Posted by: the other josh at May 1, 2006 08:39 PM

Oh, and Loretta's a career .300 hitter whose career avg in April is .266. He's a slow starter.

Posted by: the other josh at May 1, 2006 08:41 PM

Loretta's bat and foot speed and slowed quite a bit last year. I doubt he'll match his previous performance.

Posted by: Richard at May 2, 2006 10:10 PM

Lowell's off to a pretty good start...I think the best indicator of bat speed based on measurable statistics is k/bb ratio. Loretta isn't striking out; he is walking and fouling off a ton of pitches, like he's done for most of his career. Both are good indicators that he can return to somewhere near is 2004 levels. .335/.391/.495 is probably a bit much to ask, but .300/.360/.500 doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility. This isn't Petco field we're dealing with, after all.

Posted by: the other josh at May 3, 2006 05:08 PM
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