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The Boston Herald reports that the Red Sox are close to re-signing Doug Mirabelli to a 1 year/$550,000 deal:

According to sources, Mirabelli is close to accepting a one-year deal from the team that will pay him in the range of a guaranteed $550,000 to serve as backup to Jason Varitek. The guaranteed portion of the deal is down from the $750,000 Mirabelli earned last season, but incentives allow the catcher to reach an approximate $1 million ceiling that he had last year.

The Sox were hoping to bring back Mirabelli on a non-guaranteed contract, something the player and his agents, Sam and Seth Levinson, were unwilling to do. As is often the case, there decidedly few options at catcher in the free agent market.

With Varitek entering the final year of his contract, the Sox have serious long-term catching concerns beyond this season. It is likely that the club will revisit Varitek’s contract with him during spring training in hopes of securing the player to an extension that could cost between $10-$13 million a year, the latter of which is the sum being pair to both Pudge Rodriguez and Jorge Posada.

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