The Tigers announced an agreement with reliever Octavio Dotel on a one-year contract, plus a club option for 2013. According to MLB.com's Jason Beck, Dotel will earn $3MM in 2012 and the club option is worth $3.5MM (with a $500K buyout). Dotel is represented by Beverly Hills Sports Council.
Dotel, 38, posted a 3.50 ERA, 10.3 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 1.00 HR/9, and 30.1% groundball rate for the Blue Jays and Cardinals this year. The Cardinals chose a $750K buyout over his $3.5MM club option after the season. Dotel is known for his dominance against right-handed hitters and struggles against left-handed ones. In November as part of the new collective bargaining agreement, Dotel was changed from a Type A free agent to Type B, and it was decided that the Cardinals would not have to offer him arbitration to receive a supplemental draft pick as compensation.
The Tigers now have righties Jose Valverde, Joaquin Benoit, Al Alburquerque, and Dotel at the back end of their bullpen.
Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports first reported the near-agreement on Wednesday night, with Heyman reporting last night that the two sides had agreed to terms.
I like this move for them.
Dotel is safe if anything and a vet. Most important to stay healthy down the stretch now let’s get that lefty starter.
Good pick up by Detroit.
Dotel 7th
Benoit 8th
Valverde 9th
Benoit and Dotel can also spot close if Valverde needs a night or two off.
Pitching staff is looking good for Detroit:
SP
Verlander
Fister
Scherzer
Porcello
5th
BP
Valverde
Benoit
Dotel
Coke
Schlereth
Alburquerque
final two spots from
Perry
Pauley
etc
etc
etc
Yeah, and what’s great is it’s a one-year deal. They could still use an upgrade over Schlereth and Perry, though. Those guys are completely unpredictable.
Still need a #5 starter, though. I don’t like the internal options for 2012.
Agreed on Perry, but Schlereth is actually semi-predictable…he will be terrible vs righties and solid vs lefties. As for the #5, I would love to give Turner an extended chance.
Ha, you’re right about Schlereth. Leyland insists on using him incorrectly. I really think Turner should spend a full year at AAA. They rushed Porcello and Perry up and I think it hurt their development. At the very least, they should sign a guy who can start off as a #5 starter and who’d be okay with shifting to the bullpen as a long reliver if Turner dominates. Not sure who that would be though. Rich Harden? Tim Wakefield?
Ha, you’re right about Schlereth. Leyland insists on using him incorrectly. I really think Turner should spend a full year at AAA. They rushed Porcello and Perry up and I think it hurt their development. At the very least, they should sign a guy who can start off as a #5 starter and who’d be okay with shifting to the bullpen as a long reliver if Turner dominates. Not sure who that would be though. Rich Harden? Tim Wakefield?
Neither Perry nor Schlereth have a clue where the ball is going once it leaves their hand. Their control is nonexistent.
Turner doesn’t need an extended chance-he will be a big leaguer soon; I just think it will be after a few more months in toledo, as opposed to him breaking camp with the team
The walk rates for Schlereth only support what you are saying when he is going against righties. He tends to have average control vs lefties. My guess is that this has to do with the fact that he can throw his curveball (the one pitch he can control) more vs lefties than vs righties. He generally can’t control his fastball, and he is forced to use it extensively vs righties, because his curveball is much less effective against them.
This is yet another reason why Schlereth should be used almost exclusively as a left-on-left guy.
Both 1st rd picks with pretty high celings.
Goodge, I maintain they do not need a 5th starter, they need a dependable #3 starter. We have a good enough roster now to make the playoffs; especially, with our divison being so weak. In the playoffs it was obvious we needed another front line pitcher to go with JV and Fister. Look at our competition, the Angels have 3 strong pitchers, despite losing Wilson, the Rangers still have 3 horses etc. etc. We could then put Sherzer in the pen during the playoffs and have a pretty strong team, particularly, if we sign Cepedes.
I would rather they use Alburquerque in the 7th and keep Coke and Dotel as lefty/righty specialists as needed. I dont think they will carry 13 pitchers; therefore, I would give the last spot to Below as the long relief guy.
good point.
Hopefully Jim Leyland uses him correctly, as he is downright dominant vs righties, but a complete liability vs lefties. He needs to be a strict right-on-right guy (which will actually go well with Schlereth in the 6th/7th, as he needs to be a strict left-on-left guy). Throw in Valverde, Benoit, Coke and Alburquerque and you have the makings of an awesome pen.
But you know he wont. His in game management makes me cringe.
One year plus an option? Not even a vesting option? Excellllllent.
I don’t think there has been any declaration on what sort of option it is (vesting, team, player, or mutual). Last night there was talk of a vesting option, but here’s hoping it is a team option.
Agreed. A team option would be best, of course. I could live with a vesting option though.
Dotel is way overrated , not that good
He’s signed to pitch in the 7th. I’d understand the overrated statement if he was expected to pitch in the 9th or maybe even the 8th regularly, but he isn’t. Hard to say he is overrated as there aren’t that many dominating 7th inning guys in baseball (not saying he is dominating, just asking who you are comparing him to when you state he is overrated)…
I wouldn’t call a career 2.92 SIERA and 10.91 k/9 “overrated”, especially since his job will be to pitch the 7th. But to each his own…
He’s an adequate set-up man, and the Tigers got him relatively cheap on a one-year deal to increase their bullpen depth. Unless by “way overrated” and “not that good” you mean that he is below average or below replacement level, this doesn’t make the signing a bad one.
Disappointed Cards fan, I presume. You don’t get $3.5 million at age 38 for being “overrated, not that good.”
Nope not a Cards fan , IVe seen Dotel pitch and the man is not a closer, and is inconsistent ..the 7th inning is probably perfect for him…I just dont think hes ever been that good…Nowhere in the same league as Rivera, Mike Adams,Heath Bell … I would have said Papplebon but he cost the Sox (Not entirely) a place off spot
No one in the world thinks he is in the Rivera, Adams, etc class, so it is strange to say he is overrated. Your eye-test might tell you is not good, but the stats clearly show that he shuts down righties.
Ryan Braun would beg to differ.
Alright DD. you got some relief help/back up catcher. Now lemme see a 2nd baseman and a starter.
I think you will see a platoon at second, Santiago and Raburn. Not great but together they will put up around avg numbers for the position.
3rd base and LF are the main question marks as I believe the 5th starter will be signed late, January/February, or will be one of their internal guys.
Cespedes could be the next signing for Detroit, then wait and see.
Wild Card could be Beltran as he would be a good fit and not much going on with him at the moment.
Raburn would drop ice cream cones working at Dairy Queen, not too happy about him getting a lot of playing time ANYWHERE. I don’t think his substandard defense is overcome by his late-season hitting, but he’s Ol Smokey’s favorite, so he’ll get his name on the lineup card more often than not. Too bad we couldn’t have pried Prado away from the Braves.
I don’t think we’re totally set yet, though. DD has some cards up his sleeve, notably Austin Jackson. If the Tigers manage to ink Cespedes (which they DO have the cash for, thanks to an aging and eager Mike Illitch) I wouldn’t be surprised to see AJ get moved for a quality second-baseman.
Cespedes is not going to start from day one. He has been playing against high A or maybe AA talent.
IF Detroit signs him I believe he starts in AAA moves up to Detroit around June/July.
Cespedes is probably going to cost at least $50MM over five years. Given that kind of money, if the Tigers really don’t believe that he’ll be on the field opening day than most likely they won’t sign him and they’d be right not to.
The transition from Cuban baseball to MLB baseball is going to take a little bit of time, not to mention going from Cuba to America.
Yes it is risky but it is worth it even if he doesn’t come up to Detroit until June/July.
In the 7th I think he’ll been inconsistent and as a closer Ive always thought he was overrated…
In his career hes had some great outings over the years followed by throwing batting practice
Do you have some stats to back this up?
Nope.
Ive seen him pitch, stats arent anything
So what you’re saying is that you have no evidence that he will struggle in the seventh inning? That’s what I heard.
Stats aren’t anything? Just hilarious…
Stats record what actually happened. The eye-test records what you remember from the handful of times you watched him. Why would you trust your eye-test over the stats that clearly show him to be a dominant right-on-right guy over the last 3 years?
Because he wanted him and he’s mad that his team didn’t get him…
Like the signing, now just want to see the dollar amount.
I love Dotel, but I do not understand how he’s still able to get major league hitters out. Good job on the Tigers, he can only pitch against righties but he honestly looks just as good against lefties though the numbers don’t support it.
He was great for the Jays this year and helped us out, now he can help the Tigers
numbers really really don’t support it
Numbers don’t support it, the eye ball test doesn’t support it, BUT he gets the job done somehow and every year he is a huge trade piece that brings in value.
The only numbers that need to support Dotel is his age; at 38 he helped get the Jays a great CF, went to the Cardinals helped them win a WS and then pitched well enough somehow to become a A type free agent who after the new CBA got the Cardinals a nifty supplemental pick. He also got James Mcdonald in trade the year b4
He accomplished a lot at 38, I can’t wait to see what he does at 39
Going to need the arms now that there’s a strong prospect that in addition to the usual stacked AL East lineups we’ll have to see Pujols in the playoffs.
Use the Magglio money on Aramis Ramirez. He will drive in 100 runs and he is not as bad defensively as is sometimes written.
No…just no.
have you ever heard of deferred payments? if so, you’ll quickly realize that “the magglio money” doesn’t exist to give to a BUM like ramierez
There is no more Magglio money. Verlander gets an $7.5M raise in 2012, and Cabrera and Martinez get $1M more each as well. Valverde also got a $2M raise. That’s already a 11.5M more than last year — Magglio “only” made $10M. Also, Scherzer, Coke and Porcello will also get significant raises in arbitration; that’s another $5M or so over last year. And Dotel just got $3.5M — $3M more than internal options. Raburn gets an $800,000 raise and Peralta gets a $250,000 raise. Santiago got a $700K raise, and Laird will make about $500K more than Santos would. So that’s basically $22M more than last season for all of those guys, and that doesn’t even count what they’ll give Delmon Young to play LF (another $6M or so). Of course, Carlos Guillen’s hideous $13M also disappears, so basically the team is just above where they were in 2011. While it does seems like they’re going to increase payroll by $10, some of that will go to bring in a 5th starter. Doubt they’ll have money for a guy like Ramirez.
I stand corrected. Thank you.
That’s good stuff, but the Tigers don’t have to deal with a salary cap. If they want to sign someone, no matter the price, they just have to ask Mr. Illitch real nice. You can’t underestimate how badly the owner WANTS to win a championship, and he’s personally said himself that he can envision a couple big bats added to the lineup this offseason. There’s always the trading deadline as well.
Totally hope you’re right. Hopefully Dombrowski will make something else happen before the season starts. The team they have now can definitely make the playoffs, and I think they can be really good in 2013 when Turner has another year under his belt and Inge and Raburn are gone (hopefully), but it still feels like they need one or two more pieces/upgrades if they want to win a championship in 2012.
Agreed. I, too, feel they need another piece or two. Unlike many on here, I like the Laird signing. He’ll catch 20-30 games at most (barring an Avila injury), and knows how to call a game well. He’ll obviously allow V-Mart to DH full-time, and hopefully that’ll help him stay healthy too.
Personally, I think it’s a must to upgrade at third, Inge is pretty much toast and it wouldn’t shock me for DD to flat-out tell Leyland that he’s not coming north when training camp breaks. I don’t think Leyland likes Betemit, hence his spotty playing time after the trade and the zero interest this off-season in bringing him back. I don’t see anything left on the open market for DD to truly be satisfied with at second or third, so I could see him working the phones and trading a few prospects for something that fills those gaps. The re-signing of Santiago pretty much points to a trade for a third-baseman, but most likely nothing too special (not with Castellanos developing nicely in the minors). Any “big” name additions will probably be closer to July 31st.
I agree with you that Inge is toast. I think a deal for Figgins and 3-4MM from the Mariners for Delmon Young is a solid gamble if the Mariners are looking to add a power corner OF bat. At the very least Figgins gives them speed and defense at the bottom of the order at 3b, which is more than I can say for Inge.
I am still hoping for a Cespedes signing. If they landed him to play LF and bat 2nd, I could see AJax returning to form and thriving in the leadoff spot and Boesch’s numbers benefiting from hitting in front of MCab. The OF defense would finally be an asset as well. 2nd base is extremely difficult to upgrade though and we have a lot of internal defensive candidates that could fill the void in Rhymes, Santiago, and Raburn.
Agreed. I, too, feel they need another piece or two. Unlike many on here, I like the Laird signing. He’ll catch 20-30 games at most (barring an Avila injury), and knows how to call a game well. He’ll obviously allow V-Mart to DH full-time, and hopefully that’ll help him stay healthy too.
Personally, I think it’s a must to upgrade at third, Inge is pretty much toast and it wouldn’t shock me for DD to flat-out tell Leyland that he’s not coming north when training camp breaks. I don’t think Leyland likes Betemit, hence his spotty playing time after the trade and the zero interest this off-season in bringing him back. I don’t see anything left on the open market for DD to truly be satisfied with at second or third, so I could see him working the phones and trading a few prospects for something that fills those gaps. The re-signing of Santiago pretty much points to a trade for a third-baseman, but most likely nothing too special (not with Castellanos developing nicely in the minors). Any “big” name additions will probably be closer to July 31st.
…we offered ramirez 3 years and 42 million…he didnt want it, OR us…pays to read doesnt it?…as for dotel, his M.O. is at least a few weeks on the D.L. every season…if you pitch him a lot, no doubt the shoulder will start to bother him YET AGAIN…
Can you cite a source on this offer? Never saw it. Not doubting you, just mad at myself for letting an offer to a big bat slip unnoticed on my part. Thanks.
I like this signing for the Tigers depending on how Leyland uses him. One thing that isn’t being talked about is that he should be used mostly as a righty specialist. In a tight game pitching against a lefty with pop it would be wise for Leyland to not put him in.
he is the worst pitcher to a lefty that we have out of schlereth, coke, perry, and Al^2. However, schlereth is worse against righties than dotel is against lefties. with that said, he is also better than anyone else (Al^2 is a close second, but with a history of injuries) against righties.
$3.5M – dotel 3.34 FIP 3.50 ERA 2.67 SIERA
$3M – hawkins 2.76 FIP 2.42 ERA 3.06 SIERA
$3.5M – rauch 5.26 FIP 4.85 ERA 4.02 SIERA
lolmets
Decent pickup. But, overall picture of Laird and Dotel leaves something to be desired. Looks like they decided to just roll the dice with the Cubano. Hope we sign him and that he’s actually worth it.
If they don’t sign Cespedes, I think they’ll sign Coco Crisp, and they’re still searching for an upgrade at third base. Plus, a full year from Fister, a likely upgrade from Turner/any of their young pitchers over Brad Penny, possible improvement from Rick Porcello, and likely a better year from Max Scherzer should put this team in better position than last year even if they do nothing else.
I actually think Inge will marginally improve as well — mono obviously had a big effect on his stats in the early going. They’d be better off upgrading at 2B. Another season with Raburn’s defense there is depressing to think about. You’re right in saying that all of those guys should improve slightly; you also have to expect Verlander and Valverde to fall off a bit.
Inge is terrible. He was terrible before the mono. He started off the season just fine as far as health. He is one of the worst players in baseball right now.
He hit well in September and October, though. Plus, he’s on a contract year. I’m just saying that I think he’ll improve over last year’s stats. Agreed he’s not great (and that’s an understatement), but the Tigers can carry him as a #8 or #9 hitter with the other guys they have. I’m hoping they at least get a platoon partner for him, though — Maicer Izturis would fit pretty well on the Tigers, as they could do a three-way platoon at 2B and 3B with Inge, Izturis and Santiago (with Izturis being more of a regular).
Even on a contract year, I don’t see him putting up even acceptable stats. He is God awful. The worst player in MLB. If it wasn’t for an even worse contract, he would have been released.
Close. If it were not for owner Mike Illitch’s loyalty to the longest-tenured Tiger, Inge would’ve been released. AND if it weren’t for Leyland’s man-love for Inge, he never would have made it out of Toledo and back to Detroit.
He won’t be back in 2013. If he is, it will be for less than $1MM.
He won’t be back in 2013. If he is, it will be for less than $1MM.
Close. If it were not for owner Mike Illitch’s loyalty to the longest-tenured Tiger, Inge would’ve been released. AND if it weren’t for Leyland’s man-love for Inge, he never would have made it out of Toledo and back to Detroit.
Even on a contract year, I don’t see him putting up even acceptable stats. He is God awful. The worst player in MLB. If it wasn’t for an even worse contract, he would have been released.
Dotel has the weirdest throw to first I’ve ever seen. Tiger fans will be holding their breath every time someone drops down a bunt with him on the mound.
Good signing though.
After all of those bad throws in the 2006 World Series versus your squad, and Porcello’s pickoff throw to first against Texas, we’re used to it.
My dream of a Tigers dynasty game plan-Trade Austin Jackson, Jacob Turner, Drew Smyly, Andy Oliver/Casey Crosby, and Hernan Perez for Gio Gonzalez AND Jemile Weeks (I know he’s considered “untouchable”, but for that package, Beane might consider it). Yes, the Tigers “mortgage the future”, but land players that will help them for the next 4-6 seasons, giving them plenty of time to rebuild the farm through the draft. Then sign Yoenis Cespedes (who they are apparently going all in for right now) to play CF. Trade Delmon Young (7MM) and Brandon Inge (6MM) for Ichiro (16MM), Figgins (9MM, 9MM), and 5MM cash from the Mariners giving the Mariners 7MM-14MM(depending on if they non-tender Young) in salary relief to sign Fielder long-term as 1b/DH . Basically the Tigers spend an extra 7MM in 2012, 3.5MM each (what they are paying Dotel) for 2 former All-Stars with speed and defense. 9MM for Figgins in 2013 is the tough pill to swallow if he continues to disappoint, but there’s a good chance Nick Castellanos is ready by 2013. Or after 2012 they may be able to deal Figgins and eat just a portion of the salary. Worse comes to worse, he’s a 4MM cheaper than Carlos Guillen (in 2011) with better defense, speed, and less injury prone.
The A’s land a cost-controlled CF of the future for the next 4-5 seasons to replace Crisp, 2 top pitching prospects, 1 solid pitching prospect with upside (used to be a top), and a new potential 2b of the future with even less service time.
Even with Weeks included, that trade proposal is ridiculous.
Gio Gonzalez isn’t that great. Much less worth surrendering Jacob Turner alone.
I won’t even bother with the Seattle proposal..lol
The Tigers need a proven power lefty in their rotation. They already have four excellent RH pitchers in Verlander, Fister, Scherzer, Porcello. And then, they have some prospects (Turner, Smyly, Crosby, Oliver) but no proven commodities like Gio. There are no LH pitchers on the market like him and Beane knows this value. This is also true for Jemile Weeks. How many good defensive 2b stole 20+ bases last year and hit for a good average with an above average walk rate in just 300 ABs? Currently, only two come to mind, Dustin Pedroia and Ian Kinsler. Icing on the cake, Weeks is also a switch hitter and has 5-6 years of team control.
With Gio Gonzalez, barring injury, the Tigers have one of the best rotations in the league cost-controlled for the next 4 seasons. With Jemile Weeks, they have an above-average defensive 2b proven capable of switch-hitting near the top of the order for the next 5-6 seasons. In Cespedes, they have a comparable defensive CF with a higher offensive ceiling than Jackson. Thusly, they most likely upgrade at 3 positions without giving up any players that currently help them or are a guarantee to help them in the future. With Gio in the rotation, Turner, Smyly and Oliver/Crosby all are highly less likely to have a spot available in the rotation for the next 4 seasons assuming Porcello starts to live up to his potential. With Weeks and Cespedes, Perez and Jackson are expendable.
I’d give up Turner but not Perez. Weeks is a beast.
You don’t think Perez becomes expendable with Weeks acquired?
I’d prefer to keep Perez. Pick someone else.
Fair enough lol.
um, no.
That would be awesome, but go for Daniel Murphy from the Mets instead of Fiigins.
Thank God u aren’t a GM…
I thought the Cards were automatically getting a suppl pick for him.
They are. Who said otherwise?
Actually Im not a Cardinals fan or anything, im just commenting on the signings..useless information ! 🙂
Good sign Tigers, now its time for Cespedes go all in for him DD, and then go for Gio and that would be perfect
the word is DD really covets Cespedes. As us Tigers fans know, when DD covets a player, he usually makes it happen. What I’m more concerned about is how he’s going to address 2b and 3b. Ideally, I’d like him to get high OBP/AVG, speed and good defensive guys at those positions.
A guy that comes to mind is Emilio Bonifacio of the Marlins. With their IF filled now, the only place they have for him is CF which I doubt he has the arm for. He’s coming off a great year where he thrived in the leadoff spot in over 500 ABs (.297 AVG, .360 OBP, 40 Sbs), which he won’t be hitting in now that Reyes is in town.
If the Tigers do sign Cespedes, they would have 2 great defensive CFs, making one possibly expendable. I wonder if AJax and Porcello for Bonifacio and LoMo would appeal to the Marlins? LoMo would have unbelievable potential hitting in front of MCab and Bonifacio could be a great 2b (more likely) or 3b and leadoff hitter, giving the Tigers flexibility as to which other position to fill. Porcello is going to be expensive as a Super 2 the next 4 seasons, but could really thrive in the NL. The Tigers can replace him with Jacob Turner though and need to find a lefty for the 5th spot anyway.
Doesn’t Jimmy Rollins make sense for the Tigers? Santiago is a utility guy and you can move Peralta to 2nd.
as a Tigers fan I hope not. The last SS we paid well into his 30s (Carlos Guillen) was one of the worst contracts in baseball. Additionally Peralta only wants to play SS; he hated playing 3b in Cleveland. I think (and this is just my opinion) getting the opportunity to play SS again in Detroit played a large role in his rebound season.
Apparently this is a bigger loss to the cardinals than Pujols
Not a blockbuster, but he is effective.
anybody hear about R Perry going to the national Leauge