12/20: Octavio to Make Up His Mind Today
Posted by: James
Update: Dotel has signed. From what the article states, there doesn't seem to be an option for the next season which strikes me as odd. A team who takes a chance on an injured player theoretically should get a slight reward if that risk pays off. still, I guess you can command that when there are 11 teams interested in signing you.
Octavio Dotel, someone who I have been pushing hard for the Yankees to get, will apparently make his decision regarding who he will sign with known today. Dotel, who came up in the Mets farm system and was traded in the Mike Hampton deal, is a hard-throwing righty who just turned 32 and is coming off Tommy John surgery. He doesn't have a very good history as a closer but when he has been a set-up guy, he has been a dominant one (especially from 2001-2003 for the Astros). When the A's acquired him in 2004 as part of a three way deal with the Astros for Carlos Beltran, they tried to use him as the closer with marginal success (take a look at who sponsors Dotel's Baseball-Reference page). He was injured early last year, which allowed Huston Street to come in and lay claim to the closer job, making Dotel expendable.
According to Dotel's agent, he received 11 offers this winter (including from both the Yankees and the Mets). We'll have to see how much of this is just talk from the agent as every free agent says that the Yankees are interested if only to drive the bidding that much higher. Still, according to writer's sources, the Yankees showed more substantial interest than the Mets. An incentive-laden deal for the 2006 season with an option for the next (something like the Yankees did with Jon Leiber) would be ideal. I guess we will find out today how it plays out.
Octavio Dotel, someone who I have been pushing hard for the Yankees to get, will apparently make his decision regarding who he will sign with known today. Dotel, who came up in the Mets farm system and was traded in the Mike Hampton deal, is a hard-throwing righty who just turned 32 and is coming off Tommy John surgery. He doesn't have a very good history as a closer but when he has been a set-up guy, he has been a dominant one (especially from 2001-2003 for the Astros). When the A's acquired him in 2004 as part of a three way deal with the Astros for Carlos Beltran, they tried to use him as the closer with marginal success (take a look at who sponsors Dotel's Baseball-Reference page). He was injured early last year, which allowed Huston Street to come in and lay claim to the closer job, making Dotel expendable.
According to Dotel's agent, he received 11 offers this winter (including from both the Yankees and the Mets). We'll have to see how much of this is just talk from the agent as every free agent says that the Yankees are interested if only to drive the bidding that much higher. Still, according to writer's sources, the Yankees showed more substantial interest than the Mets. An incentive-laden deal for the 2006 season with an option for the next (something like the Yankees did with Jon Leiber) would be ideal. I guess we will find out today how it plays out.
Mike A. wrote: