A Few More Small Moves

The Pirates signed Octavio Dotel to a one-year deal for a guaranteed $3.5 million ($3.25 million in 2010, with a team option for 2011 at $4.5 million with a $250,000 buy-out), apparently with the idea that he’ll be the Buc’s 2010 closer.  He’s still got the stuff to be a closer, but he gives up too many homeruns and walks to be a good one.

Dotel now has a 3.73 career ERA, and his ERA over the last two years for the White Sox was just a shade lower than that.  He’ll be 36 in 2010.

You get what you pay for, and I don’t expect that Dotel will be one of the twenty best closers in MLB in 2010.  That being said, he certainly fits the budget the Pirates have.

The Dodgers signed Vicente Padilla to a one-year $5.025 million deal.  I’m not sure what to think of it.  Yes, the price is good for a starting pitcher, but I just have this gut feeling that Padilla doesn’t really have a whole lot left.

It’s not really based on anything reasonable — Padilla is only 32 in 2010, and his combined season between Texas and the Dodgers wasn’t that bad.  On the other hand, it really wasn’t that good either.

Padilla didn’t have a bad season in 2008 for the Rangers, and he was actually pretty good in 2006, when you take The Ballpark at Arlington into account.  Still, he hasn’t been what one might have hoped for after his strong seasons early in his career for the Phillies in 2002 and 2003.

Again, it’s not really rational, but I’d rather have Doug Davis than Padilla for roughly the same money.  However, rotisserie players should probably select Padilla, since he’ll be pitching his home games in Dodger Stadium.

In a very minor move I kind of like, the Rangers signed Khalil Greene to a one-year $750,000 deal.  Greene has been pretty awful the last two seasons, but he’s still only 30 in 2010, and he was a pretty good offensive shortstop from 2004 through 2007.  One has to think there’s at some chance that he’s young enough to make a comeback and be really useful to the Rangers as a back-up middle infielder at a bargain price.  Again, like Vladimir Guerrero, if Khalil is ever going to get his hitting stroke back, The Ballpark at Arlington is the place to do it.

In what was probably the Tigers’ best move of the off-season so far, they apparently convinced Miguel Cabrera to get treatment for his alcohol problem.  It was reported today that Cabrera has spent the last three months in an out-patient treatment program.

This can only be a good thing for Cabrera and the Tigers.  He’s one of the best hitters in baseball, and the drinking obviously hasn’t been good for this game or his motivation.  If he can clean up his act and refocus on baseball, he could have a huge 2010 for the Tigers.