Marlins sign Doug Mientkiewicz to Minor League contract

The Florida Marlins signed Doug Mientkiewicz to a minor league contract.

Mientkiewicz, 35, has spent 12 seasons in the majors and played 20 games for the Dodgers last season.

The Florida State product was in Minnesota for the first six-plus seasons of his career before short stints with the Red Sox, Mets, Royals, Yankees, Pirates and Dodgers.

The career .271 hitter has compiled 66 home runs and 405 RBI in 1,087 career games. He also won a Gold Glove Award in 2001 with the Twins.

 Doug separated his shoulder in April of 2009 and it required surgery to fix it.  Basically he is only insurance if Mike Lamb can't provide a decent left-handed bat off the bench.  While Doug is mainly known as a defensive specialist, he is a decent pinch hitter.  His career slash numbers are .278/.377/.367 as a pinch hitter.  Strangely, his OPS is better against lefties than righties.

Mientkiewicz is probably best known for being a late inning defensive substitute for the Red Sox in the final game in the 2004 World Series, and going home with the ball.  This lead to a lawsuit that the Red Sox brought against him (they are a classy bunch), which was later dropped.  The two parties finally reached an agreement and the ball is housed in the Hall of Fame.

For personal reasons, I hope Mike Lamb does the job as the lefty off the bench because I find spelling Lamb a heckuva lot easier than spelling Mientkiewicz.  Should he end up being on the big club, he is Doug or Dougie to us.