The man who has played for more Major League teams than anyone in history won’t be adding another to his resumé, as right-hander Octavio Dotel has decided to officially retire, reports Chris Cotillo of SB Nation’s MLB Daily Dish.
Last we heard on Dotel, the veteran reliever was looking to make a comeback in 2014, though that never wound up coming to be. Cotillo notes that Dotel tried to rehab from his most recent injury (elbow inflammation that cost him nearly all of the 2013 season) in the Dominican Republic in hopes of latching on with a new team, but the rehab was unsuccessful.
Dotel, 40, will finish his career having played for a record 13 teams in the Majors. In parts of 15 big league seasons between the Astros, Athletics, Tigers, White Sox, Royals, Mets, Rockies, Pirates, Braves, Cardinals, Dodgers, Yankees and Blue Jays, Dotel compiled a 3.78 ERA with 10.8 K/9, 3.9 BB/9 and a 32.5 percent ground-ball rate. In his best seasons, Dotel averaged 94+ mph on his fastball, but he lost some of that velocity late in his career and finishes with an average of 93 mph on his heater.
Dotel never earned an All-Star nod, but he did secure a World Series ring after pitching 24 2/3 innings of 3.28 ERA ball during the regular season for the 2011 Cardinals, plus another 10 1/3 postseason frames in which he yielded three earned runs (2.61 ERA). Dotel recorded saves for nine of the 13 teams for which he played, totaling 109 in a career that earned him more than $41MM, per Baseball-Reference.com. MLBTR wishes Dotel the best of luck in his post-playing career.
Atleast he has a WS Ring
And 41 million dollars. That’s a lot of money for a reliever who was never a consistent closer.
He must have called Dombrowski after the Game 1 bullpen debacle and got turned down when he asked if he could come back to the Tigers. When you’re a reliever and the Tigers don’t want you, you know you’re done.
I remember him coming up with the 1999 mets, I was hoping he’d be a big piece of the future. Of course that off-season he was traded to the Astros for 1 season of Mike Hampton and Derek Bell (and a WS run!).
At least with Bell, you missed out on Operation Shutdown.
Man he thought he was something else didn’t he?
Just read up about this and Bell in general. What a cringeworthy moment.
This guy was my workhorse in MVP Baseball 2004.
One of my favorite names too.
Oh man, I loved that game. Played it all the time on Gamecube 😀
His run with the Cardinals earned him one of my all time favorite nicknames. Octavio Don’t Ask Dotel
I swore he was going to be a stud closer the way he dominated setting up Wagner.
I had wanted the Sox to get him in 2012 as insurance for what I thought would be Bard. Of course things ended up being very different anyhow -_-
“15 big league seasons between the Astros, Athletics, Tigers, White Sox, Royals, Mets, Rockies, Pirates, Braves, Cardinals, Dodgers, Yankees and Blue Jays.”
So basically, if you have a favorite Major League team, he’s probably played for them.
I have fond memories of Dotel closing games for the A’s 10 years back. Hands down, the best entrance music for a closer that isn’t from Metallica or AC/DC: “Shut Em Down” by Public Enemy.
It’s still hard to believe that he’s played for 11 different teams between then and now.
Kind of crazy he hung on as long as he did.
I wonder if there will ever be a guy,
More than likely a reliever. That will play for all 30 teams. I understand it would mean a very very long career but it just seems interesting
Octavio probably broke more apartment leases than anyone in history, too.