More Teams Should Be In On Octavio Dotel
November 30th, 2011
I am going to share a personal story with you.
About five years ago, I was interviewing for a job. I made it all the way to the final two candidates. There was me, who at the time had a solid track record and had the experience for the job. The other person I was competing against didn’t have the experience or proven track record, but had worked at the company at an entry level position and had already developed some contacts.
To make a long story short, I didn’t the job. When I asked why, I was told that they went with the other candidate because they believed she potentially take those contacts and turn them into something even though she had very little experience doing so.
My point of all this and trust me when I tell you, this isn’t sour grapes. I am doing just fine. But my point of telling this story is that the job market for us regular folk is no different than what we see go on in free agency every winter.
Every winter, we see teams sign guys based on potential and the guys who have a proven track record get very little interest. Case in point: Jonathan Broxton vs. Octavio Dotel.
Broxton just signed a one-year, $4 million contract with the Kansas City Royals yesterday and it was reported that he had up to 10 teams interested in him. Why? Because even though Broxton has sucked out loud for the past two years, all of those teams and now the Royals are hoping that Broxton can regain the form that made him a top reliever in 2008 and 2009.
He he as a ton of potential.
According to MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo, there are four teams in on Dotel — the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, and the team he finished the 2011 season with, the St. Louis Cardinals. Here is my question: why aren’t there more teams in on Dotel?
With the Cardinals and Toronto Blue Jays in 2011, Dotel had a 3.50 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 2.8 BB/9, and 10.3 K/9 in 54 innings. Those are pretty good numbers.
But where Dotel excelled was against right-handed batters. Dotel held right-handed batters to a .151 average and his 2.53 xFIP against righties was better than Daniel Bard‘s, Ryan Madson‘s, Mike Adams‘, and David Robertston’s.
Despite his age, Dotel is still getting the job done. His fastball is no longer 94-95, but Dotel has learned to pitch at 91-92, which is where his fastball was last season. He still also has a plus slider and curve.
As I mentioned above, despite his age, Dotel is still a very effective reliever. There are only 18 other relievers who were 37 or older and averaged over 10 K/9.
| Rk | Year | Age | Tm | Lg | G | W | L | SV | IP | SO | HR | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt Whiteside | 12.27 | 2005 | 37 | TOR | AL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.2 | 5 | 19.64 | 25 | 3 |
| 2 | Billy Wagner | 14.94 | 2009 | 37 | TOT | ML | 17 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 15.2 | 26 | 1.72 | 279 | 1 |
| 3 | Billy Wagner | 13.50 | 2010 | 38 | ATL | NL | 71 | 7 | 2 | 37 | 69.1 | 104 | 1.43 | 275 | 5 |
| 4 | Bob Veale | 11.08 | 1974 | 38 | BOS | AL | 18 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 13.0 | 16 | 5.54 | 72 | 2 |
| 5 | Billy Taylor | 13.50 | 2001 | 39 | PIT | NL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 | 3 | 4.50 | 119 | 1 |
| 6 | Takashi Saito | 10.91 | 2007 | 37 | LAD | NL | 63 | 2 | 1 | 39 | 64.1 | 78 | 1.40 | 319 | 5 |
| 7 | Takashi Saito | 11.49 | 2008 | 38 | LAD | NL | 45 | 4 | 4 | 18 | 47.0 | 60 | 2.49 | 169 | 1 |
| 8 | Takashi Saito | 11.50 | 2010 | 40 | ATL | NL | 56 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 54.0 | 69 | 2.83 | 139 | 4 |
| 9 | Mike Remlinger | 10.83 | 2003 | 37 | CHC | NL | 73 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 69.0 | 83 | 3.65 | 119 | 11 |
| 10 | Dan Plesac | 10.76 | 1999 | 37 | TOT | ML | 64 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 44.1 | 53 | 5.89 | 82 | 7 |
| 11 | Dan Plesac | 13.50 | 2001 | 39 | TOR | AL | 62 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 45.1 | 68 | 3.57 | 130 | 4 |
| 12 | Alejandro Pena | 11.25 | 1996 | 37 | FLA | NL | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.0 | 5 | 4.50 | 100 | 2 |
| 13 | Jesse Orosco | 10.51 | 1995 | 38 | BAL | AL | 65 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 49.2 | 58 | 3.26 | 147 | 4 |
| 14 | Stu Miller | 13.50 | 1968 | 40 | ATL | NL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 1 | 54.00 | 10 | 0 |
| 15 | Tom Gordon | 10.31 | 2006 | 38 | PHI | NL | 59 | 3 | 4 | 34 | 59.1 | 68 | 3.34 | 141 | 9 |
| 16 | Dennis Eckersley | 10.75 | 1993 | 38 | OAK | AL | 64 | 2 | 4 | 36 | 67.0 | 80 | 4.16 | 98 | 7 |
| 17 | Dennis Eckersley | 10.46 | 1992 | 37 | OAK | AL | 69 | 7 | 1 | 51 | 80.0 | 93 | 1.91 | 197 | 5 |
| 18 | Octavio Dotel | 10.33 | 2011 | 37 | TOT | ML | 65 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 54.0 | 62 | 3.50 | 115 | 6 |
| 19 | Tim Byrdak | 11.23 | 2011 | 37 | NYM | NL | 72 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 37.2 | 47 | 3.82 | 98 | 3 |
More teams should be in on Dotel. For one year, he’s a much safer and better play than Broxton.
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