So it looks like Doug Mirabelli will be re-signing for the Sox for $1.5 million. Great deal for the best backup catcher in the business (not hard, admittedly, as Slate has pointed out - backup catchers are the slackers of MLB). I wonder whether Mirabelli was hurt by the perception that he’s a knuckleball catcher, since Wakefield’s the only competent knuckleballer in the majors. I can imagine other clubs going “yeah, I know it’s probably likely that Mirabelli’s passed balls are due to catching the knuckler, but I’m not sure I can afford to take the risk”.
Of course, us Sox followers know that Mirabelli has caught the rest of the staff quite competently at various points. And he can hit.