Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Dotel to Close in Toronto


According to Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes, it looks like Octavio Dotel is being given an opportunity to seize the Blue Jays closer role.   His agent Dominic Torres had this to say:
"Octavio is excited about playing for a team that will give you the opportunity to close games in the strongest division in baseball."
As I said the other day, Dotel's always had nasty, strikeout inducing stuff worthy of the closer role.  His problem has always been control and a penchant for allowing home runs.  If he fails to hold down the closer role, the Blue Jays could always fall back on long-time bullpen stalwart Jason Frasor to assume the closer duties.   Stepping into the closer situation would not be new to Frasor, as he filled the role admirably at times during the 2004 and 2009 seasons.  Frasor,33, induces strikeouts, and solid control, and tends to give up more ground balls than fly balls.  All told, he might be a better option for the role than Dotel.

Dotel's contract is for one year $3.5M with an option for a second season at the same price, or a $750K buyout.  The deal will be finalized pending his physical that is scheduled to occur sometime next week.

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