Octavio Dotel

Blue Jays Sign Octavio Dotel

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | January 4, 2011 at 2:32pm CDT

The Blue Jays' deal with Octavio Dotel is official, the team announced. The sides agreed on a $3MM contract for 2011 plus a $3.5MM club option for 2012, according to the team. Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportes.com (Twitter links) first reported the deal.

Dotel will be the frontrunner for Toronto's closer job this spring, though he'll have to earn it, according to Morosi.

The Blue Jays lost Scott Downs to the Angels and Kevin Gregg also seems likely to depart via free agency. To a certain extent, Dotel actually resembles Gregg statistically. Both walked about one batter per two innings last year, while Dotel (10.5 K/9) struck out more opponents than Gregg (8.8 K/9). Gregg picked up 37 saves to Dotel's 22 and posted a lower ERA (Gregg: 3.51 ERA, Dotel: 4.08 ERA). Gregg also throws slightly harder, is five years younger and induces more ground balls. The two pitchers are both represented by Beverly Hills Sports Council.

The Blue Jays could have exercised Gregg's $4.5MM option for 2011 after the season, but chose to decline. Assuming Gregg signs a major league deal elsewhere, they'll end up with an extra supplementary first round draft choice and a bullpen that costs $1MM less (the difference between Dotel's guarantee and Gregg's option).

The Pirates – the first of the three teams Dotel played for last year – and the Rays were among Dotel's suitors this offseason. The Rockies – the third of the three teams he played for – will obtain a supplementary first round pick in next year's draft since they offered the Type B reliever arbitraiton.

It's worth noting that Colorado will get a compensation pick for a player who appeared in eight games as a Rockie. Even more remarkably, the Blue Jays gained a supplementary first round pick for losing former Rockie Miguel Olivo, a player who never once suited up for them.

Blue Jays Moving Closer To Deal With Octavio Dotel

By Mike Axisa | December 27, 2010 at 12:42pm CDT

MONDAY, 12:42pm: Dotel is "moving closer" to an agreement with the Jays, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. He agrees that it would be in the $3.5MM range.

SUNDAY, 8:49pm: Heyman tweets that the deal with Toronto isn't done yet, and that the Pirates, Rays, and several other teams are still very much involved in the Dotel bidding.

8:21pm: SI.com's Jon Heyman tweets that the deal will pay Dotel $3.5MM, or a bit above that.

6:15pm: The Blue Jays and Octavio Dotel are on the verge of agreeing to a one-year contract, reports Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes. The deal will be "almost identical" to the $3.2MM he earned in 2010, including another $500K in incentives.

Although Jason Frasor will return after accepting arbitration, the Jays still lost late-inning relievers Scott Downs and (presumably) Kevin Gregg to free agency. Dotel, 37, gives them a veteran arm with closing experience. He pitched to a 4.08 ERA with 10.5 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9 for the Pirates, Dodgers, and Rockies last season. Dotel's trademark velocity is declining but still well above 90 mph, and over the last four seasons he owns an impressive 11.4 K/9. Only Carlos Marmol, Jonathan Broxton, and Billy Wagner top that.

The Pirates and Rays also had interest in Dotel, who is represented by the Beverly Hills Sports Council. The Rockies will receive a supplemental first round draft pick as compensation for losing the right-hander, who was a Type-B free agent. Toronto will be Dotel's 11th big league team, amazingly enough.

Rays Notes: Bullpen, First Base, DH

By Steve Adams | December 26, 2010 at 1:53pm CDT

The Rays find themselves in a difficult position as the 2011 season approaches. Forced to cut payroll, they've lost Carlos Pena, Carl Crawford, (presumably) Rafael Soriano, and most of their bullpen to free agency, and traded Jason Bartlett as he approaches his final arbitration year.

Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times looks at some of the issues left to be addressed as the Rays begin bargain shopping this offseason:

The Rays have added some bullpen pieces in Joel Peralta, Adam Russell, Cesar Ramos, J.P. Howell, and Rule 5 pick Cesar Cabrel, but they'll still need someone to pitch the ninth and probably the eighth, Topkin opines. He lists some potential candidates as Jon Rauch, Octavio Dotel, Kevin Gregg, Trevor Hoffman, Grant Balfour, and Chad Qualls as options. Remember, the Rays also have Jake McGee.
There's not much in terms of affordable names for the Rays on the market. Some clarity will be brought to the issue once Adam LaRoche and Derrek Lee sign. Topkin mentions Casey Kotchman as a speculative option. Dan Johnson is a fallback if the team can't find an upgrade.
Johnson is also a backup plan at designated hitter, but the Rays have options at designated hitter, with Johnny Damon, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, and Jason Giambi on the market.

Blue Jays, Pirates, Rays Interested In Dotel

By Tim Dierkes | December 22, 2010 at 12:55pm CDT

The Blue Jays, Pirates, and Rays are interested in free agent reliever Octavio Dotel, reports Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Since all three clubs might be willing to offer closing jobs, Dotel ought to be intrigued. On December 8th, ESPN's Enrique Rojas reported that the Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, Orioles, Twins, Pirates and Yankees had inquired on Dotel, though some of those clubs have since filled bullpen openings.

Dotel, 37, posted a 4.08 ERA, 10.5 K/9, 4.5 BB/9, 1.3 HR/9, and 31.7% groundball rate in 64 innings for the Pirates, Dodgers, and Rockies. He received a $3.5MM base salary when the Pirates first signed him in January of this year.

Blue Jays Pursuing Octavio Dotel

By Mike Axisa | December 15, 2010 at 7:47pm CDT

After letting Scott Downs and Kevin Gregg become free agents, the Blue Jays are interested in adding Octavio Dotel to their bullpen according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Last week we learned that Toronto was one of seven teams that inquired about the right-hander.

Dotel, now 37, bounced from the Pirates to the Dodgers to the Rockies in 2010 and posted a 4.08 ERA along the way. He picked up 21 saves as the closer in Pittsburgh and struck out over a batter per inning (10.5 K/9) overall. Dotel walked lots of hitters as usual (4.5 BB/9), but limited hits.

Seven Teams Interested In Octavio Dotel

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | December 8, 2010 at 6:55pm CDT

Seven clubs are interested in Octavio Dotel, according to Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportes (on Twitter, in Spanish). The Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, Orioles, Twins, Pirates and Yankees have inquired on the right-hander, Rojas writes.

The 37-year-old bounced from the Pirates to the Dodgers to the Rockies in 2010 and posted a 4.08 ERA along the way. He picked up 21 saves as the Pirates' closer and struck out over a batter per inning (10.5 K/9) overall. Dotel walked lots of hitters as usual (4.5 BB/9), but limited hits.

Octavio Dotel To Decline Arbitration

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | November 29, 2010 at 7:10pm CDT

Octavio Dotel will decline the Rockies' offer of arbitration, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (on Twitter). The Rockies will obtain a supplementary first round pick in next year's draft for losing the Type B free agent as long as he signs a major league deal with another team.

The 37-year-old pitched for three clubs in 2010, posting a 4.08 ERA with 10.5 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9 in 64 total innings. Dotel saved 21 games for the Pirates before being dealt to the Dodgers and Rockies. MLBTR's Tim Dierkes suggested in June that Dotel may pursue a deal like the one he signed with the White Sox: $11MM for two years.

If you're wondering which ranked free agents have accepted or turned down arbitration, check out MLBTR's free agent arbitration offer tracker.

National League Free Agent Arbitration Offers

By Tim Dierkes | November 23, 2010 at 11:01pm CDT

11 National League teams have free agent arbitration offer decisions to make, and we'll group them in this post. For a fantastic customizable chart with all 65 Type A/B free agents and their decisions in real-time, click here.

The Padres offered Jon Garland (B), Yorvit Torrealba (B) and Kevin Correia (B) arbitration, according to MLB.com's Corey Brock (on Twitter). They did not offer Miguel Tejada (A) and David Eckstein (B) arbitration.
The Reds declined to offer Orlando Cabrera (B) or Arthur Rhodes (A) arbitration, according to the team (on Twitter).
The Dodgers declined to offer arbitration to Scott Podsednik (B), Rod Barajas (B) and Vicente Padilla (B), according to the team (on Twitter).
The Giants offered Juan Uribe (B) arbitration, according to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter).
In a surprising move, the Brewers decided to offer Trevor Hoffman (B) arbitration, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. MLB.com's Adam McCalvy reports that Hoffman has agreed to turn the offer down (Twitter link).
The Diamondbacks announced that they offered arbitration to Adam LaRoche (B) and Aaron Heilman (B).
The Rockies will offer arbitration to Jorge de la Rosa (A) and Octavio Dotel (B), according to Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post.
The Braves will not offer arbitration to first baseman Derrek Lee (A), according to GM Frank Wren via David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Twitter.
The Nationals offered arbitration to first baseman Adam Dunn (A), reports MLB.com's Bill Ladson.
The Mets will offer arbitration to lefty Pedro Feliciano (B), tweets Andy Martino of the New York Daily News.
Yesterday, MLB.com's Todd Zolecki learned that the Phillies will offer arbitration to Jayson Werth (A) but not Chad Durbin (B).

Hoffman Drawing Interest, Undecided On Future

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | November 9, 2010 at 7:48pm CDT

Trevor Hoffman told MLB.com’s Barry Bloom that he wants to test free agency before deciding whether to play in 2011. If he sees an offer he likes, the 43-year-old could return for a 19th season. If not, the all-time saves leader says he’s prepared to retire.

Hoffman has drawn preliminary interest from a number of teams, according to his agent. Rick Thurman, who also represents free agents Brian Fuentes, Arthur Rhodes, Will Ohman, Octavio Dotel and Chan Ho Park, spoke with the D’Backs last Friday about potential fits for their bullpen.

That’s one possible destination for Hoffman, who can envision playing in Arizona under Kevin Towers, the D’Backs GM who ran the Padres when Hoffman pitched in San Diego. Towers repeated that re-building the bullpen is a priority for the D’Backs this offseason, but Hoffman isn't sure how much interest he'll draw.

"I'm coming off a tough year,” Hoffman told MLB.com. “I don't know if people are going to be turned off by that or not. I hope the strong second half I had will compensate."

Hoffman won’t find many closing jobs available outside of Arizona, but there are many potential closers available, as MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes pointed out yesterday. Though he started slowly, Hoffman recovered to pitch considerably better after early May. ESPN.com’s Keith Law warned interested teams about the risks associated with Hoffman earlier today. However, Towers told Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that "you'd be nuts if you didn't at least consider somebody like Trevor Hoffman" (Twitter link).

Rockies Decline Option For Octavio Dotel

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | November 3, 2010 at 4:44pm CDT

The Rockies declined their 2011 option for Octavio Dotel, according to the AP (via the Miami Herald). The club will pay the righty a $250K buyout instead of a $4.5MM salary.

Dotel split the 2010 season between the Pirates, Dodgers and Rockies. He posted an overall ERA of 4.08 with 10.5 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9 in 68 appearances. Dotel is a Type B free agent, so the Rockies could technically obtain a compensation pick if they offer arbitration and the 36-year-old turns it down to sign elsewhere.

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