03/24: YB Community Projection: Octavio Dotel
Posted by: James
Octavio Dotel - Reliever
Age: 31 Years Old (Turns 32 in June).
Three-Year History and splits:
Outlook: I thought that the Dotel signing was one of the best ones of the offseason (though I would have preferred a two-year deal but I guess you do what you have to do to add the guy). By now, everyone knows the story with Dotel. He started last season as the closer for the A's but had Tommy John surgery on June 6 after having pitched in only 15 games (this was done against the advice of the Athletics, who wanted him to try some R&R first). Dotel's continued with rehab since then, signed a one-year deal with the Yankees and will begin the season on the DL and depending on who you ask, will be ready to pitch anywhere from mid-May to the end of June.
To get a historical perspective on Dotel, keep this in mind. As a reliever, he has 481 strikeouts (11.49 Ks per 9) while giving up 268 hits in 390 innings since the start of the 2001 season, the most (by far) in the majors while putting up a 2.68 ERA. This is even more impressive considering this includes last season, which was lost due to his injury. His closest comparision is probably to an older Brad Lidge. If healthy, he and an effective Farnsworth could provide a lights-out bridge to Mariano.
What are his negatives? Well, he gives up more home runs than you would like (he's a fly ball pitcher - 0.51 G/F ratio in 2004), he's coming off an injury (though he has been pretty durable prior to the surgery) and he apparently doesn't have the "mental edge" (or whatever it is) to be an effective closer. He has found far more success as a set-up man than he has as a closer so hopefully, this will be a good experience for him. If nothing else, he can teach the rest of the Yankees pitchers how to live with some flair.
Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:
Age: 31 Years Old (Turns 32 in June).
Three-Year History and splits:
| SEASON | G | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | W | L | SV | HD | BlSv | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 76 | 87.0 | 53 | 25 | 24 | 9 | 31 | 97 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 33 | 2 | 2.48 |
| 2004 | 77 | 85.1 | 68 | 38 | 35 | 13 | 33 | 122 | 6 | 6 | 36 | 0 | 9 | 3.69 |
| 2005 | 15 | 15.1 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 11 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 3.52 |
Outlook: I thought that the Dotel signing was one of the best ones of the offseason (though I would have preferred a two-year deal but I guess you do what you have to do to add the guy). By now, everyone knows the story with Dotel. He started last season as the closer for the A's but had Tommy John surgery on June 6 after having pitched in only 15 games (this was done against the advice of the Athletics, who wanted him to try some R&R first). Dotel's continued with rehab since then, signed a one-year deal with the Yankees and will begin the season on the DL and depending on who you ask, will be ready to pitch anywhere from mid-May to the end of June.
To get a historical perspective on Dotel, keep this in mind. As a reliever, he has 481 strikeouts (11.49 Ks per 9) while giving up 268 hits in 390 innings since the start of the 2001 season, the most (by far) in the majors while putting up a 2.68 ERA. This is even more impressive considering this includes last season, which was lost due to his injury. His closest comparision is probably to an older Brad Lidge. If healthy, he and an effective Farnsworth could provide a lights-out bridge to Mariano.
What are his negatives? Well, he gives up more home runs than you would like (he's a fly ball pitcher - 0.51 G/F ratio in 2004), he's coming off an injury (though he has been pretty durable prior to the surgery) and he apparently doesn't have the "mental edge" (or whatever it is) to be an effective closer. He has found far more success as a set-up man than he has as a closer so hopefully, this will be a good experience for him. If nothing else, he can teach the rest of the Yankees pitchers how to live with some flair.
Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:
| G | Innings | W | L | BB | K | HD | SV | BlSv | ERA |
|---|
Kyle wrote:
36 42 4 1 15 61 12 4 0 2.89
I love this signing and I expect him to pitch basically the same as he did pre injury thus I just divided most of his coutning stats in half