Toronto Blue Jays Rumors: Octavio Dotel Close To Signing With The Jays?

In an attempt to try and fill some major voids in the teams bullpen, GM Alex Anthopolous is said to be chasing veteran closer Octavio Dotel to replace Kevin Gregg as the Blue Jays closer.

According to FOXSports, the Jays are among the strongest bidders for his services, along with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Tampa Bay Rays.

Last season, Dotel played with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Los Angeles Dodgers and Colorado Rockies, and posted a 3-4 record with 22 saves and a 4.08 ERA in 64 innings pitched with 75 strikeouts. Some respectable numbers, but not really closer-like numbers, especially the high ERA.

Toronto's bullpen is severely lacking depth following the losses of closer Kevin Gregg, lefty-specialist Scott Downs, former closer Jeremy Accardo, and long-man Brian Tallet — the latter two I assume would be very easy to replace — and already have been from within the organization.

My Take

Personally, at 37-years-old, and with a good amouint of experience, adding Dotel makes some sense for the Jays, however, with big names such as Brian Fuentes, Jon Rauch, Scot Shields, JC Romero, Rafael Soriano, Billy Wagner and Chad Qualls still available, signing Dotel to a contract seems like jumping the gun a little.

Right now the Jays could use about two or three relievers, with one lefty specialist amongst that group. Not a lot is left out there in the free agent market, so it is more than likely the positions will be filled via trade, or from within the organization.