John Flaherty, you poor bastard

I'd mentioned in the starting rotation write-up last night that I thought losing Doug Mirabelli would really have an impact on Tim Wakefield this year.

In addition to the loss of another good clubhouse guy (Johnny Damon, Kevin Millar are others) Mirabelli was the designated catcher for Wakefield. While I'm sure the pilfering of John Flaherty from the Yankees (evening the score for their pickup of Damon, for sure) will be a fine move in retrospect, I really question if he can handle Wakefield every five days.

Now, for those who are casual fans of baseball, I'd like to point out that a lot of teams have a second catcher who will only catch one pitcher and it automatically builds in an off day for your starter. This is a brilliant idea, especially in late July and August.

Now, take a team with a strict knuckleballer like Wakefield and it adds another dimension. Mirabelli was known in Boston for being the knuckleball catcher. This is a much bigger deal than most people would give him credit for.

For starters, you have to be quick to adjust to a dipping, cutting, sinking or sliding ball. The scary thing for fans of a team with a knuckler on staff is that admittedly, even the pitcher has no idea where the ball will end up. Let me repeat that - no idea where the ball will end up.

Actually, that's not entirely true - with the wrong wind or inside a dome, that ball will probably end up in the left field bleachers. See, that's the thing with most knucklers, they aren't overpowering pitchers, just adaptable. I believe it was in The Last Good Season by Michael Shapiro that he wrote of a beat writer who asked to hit against the team's resident knuckler. The team stepped in because they were pretty sure that the reporter would succeed and ruin their pitcher's confidence.

Many knucklers start as more traditional pitchers and age or hit a wall where their talent can't keep up anymore. Some, like Wakefield, have thrown knucklers for most of their careers, and those careers tend to go on forever. Charlie Hough pitched well into his 40s and others have done just as well thanks to the lack of stress put on their pitching arms.

A knuckleball succeeds because it is thrown without any spin, allowing the air to move around it and make it wobble and dance erratically. Basically, no one in the park, including the pitcher or catcher knows where a ball will go once it's released. If it doesn't dance, it's only moving 60 or 70 miles per hour and it gets tagged. A knuckleball exists to throw off a hitter's timing and the trade off is that you risk a wild pitch every time you let go.

Getting back to the issue at hand, a catcher that is regarded as a knuckleball specialist it a rare commodity in the league, especially for a team with a knuckleballer in its starting rotation (and Wakefield is the longest tenured member of the team at this point), so it's an odd move to ship him out west. The only reason the Red Sox made the move was to get Mark Loretta to fill a minor hole at second, a move they had to make, but now Mirabelli is sitting behind Mike Piazza in San Diego, so it's not the best trade the Padres have ever made.

Now, with Flaherty taking his place behind the plate, either he or Varitek will be forced to adapt. It does little for Red Sox Nation's peace of mind and will make in impact in Wakefield's starts, at least in the beginning. I hope he can get work in with Wakefield and step right in, but it's far from a sure bet.

Is this splitting hairs? To a point, but while many fans write off knucklers as 'whiffle ball pitchers' I think it's pretty interesting to watch. If you follow the Red Sox on the MLB Extra Innings package, it's a real treat to see opposing team's broadcasters on days when Wakefield takes the mound. They seem just as confused as some hitters and you can expct plenty of replays showing the lack of rotation on good pitches.

While batters don't quake at the plate or keep an eye on probable pitchers like they do for fireballers like Randy Johnson or Nolan Ryan in his day, they hate to see a knuckler. There are stories of guys who have problems with their swings after spending the afternoon trying to hit a ball fluttering at random. If a hitter relies more on timing than anything, the knuckleball is the most devastating pitch around. You can speed up or slow down for fastballs and off-speed stuff and even try to time curveballs, but with a knuckleball being so unpredictable, there's really no way to prepare for it.

As nerve-wracking as it can be for a hitter seeing Wakefield once or twice a year, it's worse for the man behind the plate. Honestly, if you're calling a game for Wakefield, know about his sub-par fastball and know that the hitter knows the same thing, it puts you in a bad spot. Do you really want to be the one to call for a lukewarm, 70-mile-per-hour fastball with a man on third, or do you want to call for a ball that could be a foot over your head or in the dirt? Mirabelli had made his peace with that proposition, and for that reason he'll be missed.

As for Flaherty, hopefully he can get ready for 2006 by asking questions and getting time in behind the plate. Bob Uecker's advice on catching a knuckleball is simple, "Wait until it stops rolling, then go pick it up."

Geno Petralli's outlook wasn't as sunny. Asked for comment after he gave up four passed balls in one inning catching Hough, Petralli said simply, "Knuckleballs suck."

(Illustration by Dugald Stermer/Available at goodnaturepublishing.com)