Mirabelli is gone again, disappearing on a March morning in Fort Myers, Fla., after being told he'd been released, and this time the prodigal catcher is not likely to return. Mirabelli, 37, is still waiting to hear from a team, according to his longtime catching partner, Jason Varitek, who has stayed in touch.
The burden of catching Wakefield, who makes his first start of 2008 tonight against the Toronto Blue Jays in Rogers Centre, now falls on Kevin Cash, who is seven years younger than Mirabelli. Cash showed last season after Mirabelli strained a calf muscle that he could handle the knuckleball, but has yet to prove he can hit big league pitching, as his .167 career average in limited time with the Blue Jays, Devil Rays, and Sox would attest.
The last two seasons, Cash hasn't hit much in the minors, either - .183 for Triple A Durham, Tampa Bay's affiliate, in '06, and .176 in 59 games with Triple A Pawtucket last season.
But the Sox demonstrated with Mirabelli - who hit just .206 with 17 home runs and 59 RBIs in 433 at-bats the last three seasons - that offense is secondary with Wakefield on the mound.
"He's good," manager Terry Francona said after Cash caught Wakefield in Saturday's exhibition in Los Angeles's Memorial Coliseum and hit a three-run home run, which might not have had the distance in a park of normal dimensions. "He's a good catcher. I think that's stating the obvious."
In his first game with Wakefield after Mirabelli's release, a minor league game in Fort Myers, Cash caught five perfect innings.
"It's not a relief," Francona said when asked about how well the two have clicked. "I'm glad, but we watched him last year. Cash, under some pretty difficult circumstances, did an outstanding job. And there was no reason to believe that he would go backwards. Cash is too conscientious, to go along with his catching tools, for that to happen."
