....I knew something looked strange on the Sox playoff roster (besides not seeing Wakefield's name on there). It wasn't that Buchholz wasn't there..we know about his "fatigue" and as much as it sucks, ya gotta baby the baby pitchers. I really couldn't figure it out. No Tavarez? Meh - nope.
Finally in the middle of the night it struck me (I was really slow)! Why in the world do we have THREE pitchers on the roster, including Dougie goes deep Mirabelli who is really only there to catch Wake.
Well, Amalie Benjamin from the Boston Globe tried to explain it:
On three catchers...
By Amalie Benjamin, Globe Staff
For those of you interested in the reasoning behind the Red Sox decision to add three catchers to the postseason roster for the third round, it's essentially about having the flexibility to run for people, and to pinch hit. More flexibility, certainly, than would be provided by someone like Brandon Moss."In the five-game series, I think we're comfortable going 10 pitchers as long as there was health," Terry Francona said. "So we try to maximize everybody on thre roster by having the third catcher. We want [Jacoby] Ellsbury to be able to impact the game, if needed, and that can mean running for a number of different people.
"Now we have a catcher that we're comfortable with. We actually have two catchers we're comfortable with, but they have a little bit different skill set, so hopefully we can use both and just maximize the strengths of our players."
Ummm...you want Dougie goes deep Mirabelli to run or pitch hit for someone? He ended the season with 0 stolen bases and a .202 BA with 114 ABs. Umm....I still don't get it. Anyone? Clue me in...please?
