Who is this Dotel person anyway?

Octavio Dotel is a great pitcher. He holds a 1.2 K/IP and a 2.7 W/K ratio for his career. That's up there with some of the better closers of our era. By comparison, the other closer moved at the deadline, Eric Gagne, has a 1.1 K/IP and a 3.4 W/K. The obvious difference is in his control but it doesn't equate to much. Gagne has a 1.11 WHIP and Dotel has a 1.24 for their carers. I'd take that for 1/2 the price (with incentives it's less than 1/3). NB: Dotel also has a rider in his contract for performance bonuses. From Cot's:

• $0.2M each for 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55 and 60 GF
• $0.25M for 65 GF
  

In fact Dotel might be a Brave for a while. Apparently, he's dreamed of being a brave for years.

"I've always wanted to play for [the Braves]. I like all the good players they have here and all their years of winning."

If that isn't a plea for an extension I don't know what is. We all know that Wickman is walking after this year (if not before) and that leaves the closer spot open. There's a chance the Braves will pickup his option ($5.5 mil) but i'd bet they'd try to sign him for longer at less. $3-4m/year for 2-3 years sounds right. However, in today's market it's likely it'll take $6-7m/year if he decides to become a FA. He's still fairly young (33) and has been reasonably effective. I think it'll get done and we can count on 1/2 the pen being closer material. Gonzo, Soriano, and Dotel is even scarier than what we had going into this year...