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
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No sweetener there, Meredith is a slinger with kneecap-high ceiling.
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. :)
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...
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.
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.
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
Yeah, but Loretta is sucking ass. His OPS is under .600. Looks like SD is having the last laugh.
Yeah because Loretta clearly won't turn it around in the 5 and a half months left in the season.
Oh, and Loretta's a career .300 hitter whose career avg in April is .266. He's a slow starter.
Loretta's bat and foot speed and slowed quite a bit last year. I doubt he'll match his previous performance.
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.