<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Mirabelli to catch Wakefield tonight vs. YankeesThe Boston Red Sox reacquired catcher Doug Mirabelli from the San Diego Padres in exchange for catcher Josh Bard, minor-league pitcher Cla Meredith. The Padres also received $100,000 in the deal, ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney is reporting.Mirabelli, Tim Wakefield's normal catcher last season when Mirabelli was with the Red Sox, will be in the starting lineup Monday night against the Yankees. The Yankees also tried to obtain Mirabelli to keep him from returning to the Red Sox, Olney reported.The Red Sox traded Mirabelli to the Padres for second baseman Mark Loretta in December. The Padres' compensation in this latest deal is still unclear. Mirabelli had been Wakefield's personal catcher in Boston before being traded. In 2005, he batted .228 in just 136 at-bats in 50 games. This season, he is batting .182 in 22 at-bats for the Padres.He is a career .240 hitter with 47 homers and 165 RBI in 459 career games for Boston, Texas, San Francisco and San Diego.Bard, who has caught Wakefield's five starts in 2006, leads the major leagues with 10 passed balls.Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.</div>LINKThis is a good trade for the Red Sox. If you havent been paying attention to baseball as of late, Wakefield has been stuggling with Josh Bard. Since he's a knuckle ball pitcher, Varitek doesnt catch for him. There have been a whole lot of balls that have gotton past Bard and a lot of balls not catched by him. Good move on the Red Sox part.
Agreed. I always liked him. Bard just couldn't get a hang of the knuckle ball. He is also a smart hitter and he knows his role, great to have him back in a Red Sox uniform.
Mirabelli takes a ride from a statie from logan to fenway and gets changed in the back seat, comes in without even having half a warmup and was catching Wake's knuckler like it was nothing....this guy is the fu*kin manAnd good god was that sweet watching Damon go 0-4 and watching the game winning home run by Papi go flying over his headGo sox
Nice. Mirabella is a good guy to have around and a solid catcher. He could be a starting catcher on most teams but I guess he loves to play in Boston.
