Sox release Mirabelli

I’m caught a bit off guard by this one, but the Red Sox have released Doug Mirabelli.

I stuck up for Mirabelli the last couple years. Not because he was good, but because he made it seem like anybody could play professional baseball. He can’t run, he can’t hit—in fact, he doesn’t really have any discernable skills aside from being able to catch an obscure pitch.

There was always the idea that you could go out in your back yard, pay some college kid $5 bucks an hour to throw you knuckleballs, and after a few thousand pitches you could show up to the Red Sox camp and not do any worse than a guy on a major league roster.

As long as Mirabelli was playing, we all had a shot.

The Globe thinks the Sox will promote Kevin Cash, but I’m not sold on it. Though Cash did an admirable job catching Wakefield in 2007, he hits even worse than Mirabelli and I don’t really see what the point would be of swapping him out for Belli. 

Kottaras has been pretty impressive this spring, and he has experience catching a knuckleball. I kind of hope the Sox roll the dice and see what he can do.

Coco not going to the Mets

Apparently there was a rumor going around that the Red Sox were going to trade Coco Crisp to the Mets for Angel Pagan.

I hadn’t heard this rumor until just now, probably because I was too busy fixing the site after I borked it last night. Anyway, it turns out that it’s a fabrication. So there you go.

Baldelli out indefinitely

Rocco Baldelli addressed his lingering medical problems for the first time today.

Baldelli will start the season on the DL, where he will remain indefinitely. The Rays have said that they will not pick up his 2009 option on April 1st, but may re-sign him at a later date. But for now, there’s certainly a hole to fill.

Personally, I’m hoping the Rays sign Kenny Lofton to roam the outfield. I have two good reasons for this:

1. I’m terrified of the Rays this year, and everybody knows Lofton teams don’t win the World Series. It might as well be in the Bible. Or at least a constitutional amendment.

2. As a division opponent, Dice-K would get a ton of opportunities to drill Lofton in the shins for dragging ass to the batters box in game 3 of the ALCS.

Beckett’s back worsens, Crisp and Lugo still hurt

Josh Beckett’s back flared up today, and he feels pretty pessimistic about his chances of pitching soon.

At this point it seems unlikely that Beckett will be making the trip to Japan, which was my original fear. 

In other injury news, Coco Crisp didn’t take batting practice today because his left groin is still sore.

Damnit Coco, don’t you know it’s hard to trade you when you can’t play?

And why stop there?

Lugo is still out with a sore back. He was expected to take some swings today, but didn’t show up at BP.

Meanwhile, I’m waiting for a smallpox epidemic to hit camp.