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The Orioles have been in contact with the 
agent for free-agent RHP Octavio Dotel, reports Roch Kubatko in his blog for the Baltimore Sun.
…from what i can gather, dotel is seeking a two-year deal, and i believe the Mets have expressed interest in signing him…but not on a two-year deal…
…it would not surprise me to see him end up in queens…my sense is that the team still feels it may need one more established, hard-throwing reliever - and dotel, who has played well in new york before, could fit that mold…
…as of now, Pedro Feliciano, Aaron Heilman, Duaner Sanchez, Scott Schoeneweis, Jorge Sosa, Billy Wagner, and maybe Steve Register, are essentially guaranteed spots in the bullpen…the thing is, with Joe Smith, Willie Collazo, Carlos Muniz, and hopefully Ambiorix Burgos, among others, acting as possible options, not to mention Orlando Hernandez who could get bumped from the rotation, there is not a whole lot of room out there for a two-year guaranteed contract…
Since 2002, pitching exclusively from the bullpen, against roughly 1,400 batters, opponents are batting .200 against Dotel, who has struck out roughly 30 percent of the hitters he has faced.
With the rotation still unsettled and Duaner still a question mark, I think you have to make a push for a guy like Dotel.
Yes and when we miss out on Santana.. move Heilman to the rotation.
But sign Dotel first.
This isn’t going to happen, haven’t you guys realized this by now?
I think you are buying low on Dotel right now and have to roll the dice. This guy was a closer last year and now he is poison because of the arm injury. It’s just money Omar! That’s what the $11 beers are for…
What about Matt Wise?
Isnt he an essential lock in the bullpen as a 7th inning guy.
Possible replacement for Heilman in that spot if he is traded away in a deal to get Santana.
yeah, from what I remember he is an established bullpen guy, I think he is guaranteed a spot
first thing I thought of. I think it must have been a slight by Matt as he mentioned Register before Wise.
I see the bullpen as full at the moment.
Wagner, Sanchez, Heilman, Feleciano, Show, Sosa, Wise. If Dotel is brought in to me that means that Heilman is going to be traded. That is risky but if you could keep Fmart and trade the Twins Heilman I would think you have to do it.
Wise is not fully guaranteed—If he gets cut, then he only makes 750K
Come on – this guy is worth a two year deal. I thought we were a big market team?
Burgos is out until at least July, no?
Why would Sosa be guaranteed a spot? Didn’t we see him overexposed by the end of the season?
Yeah I don’t think Burgos is going to pitch at all in 08 actually…
no relievers but closers are worth multi-year deals…see scott schoenwasteourmoney
guy gets almost 4 mil a year…ridiculous, and you people complained about castillo getting 8 mil?
Gosh I hope Matt Wise isn’t being counted on. He really isn’t that good.
some of you beat me to it. Burgos is essential out for the year and Matt Wise is all but guaranteed a spot on the roster.
I wold roll th edice with Dotel. And, Wise is going to be out there. I think Register gets squeezed though. And Sosa needs to earn a spot.
It also wouldn’t bother me if the pen got too crowed, especially with RH power arms. Maybe it would finally give them the incentive to put Heilman back in the rotation.
Just MHO of course, but I think he will do shockingly well in the rotation. Maybe even approach the Blantonesqe level of back of the rotation guy! Certainly he has the potential to be better than Lohse or Morris, and he doesn’t cost them anything extra.
Besides, if it doesn’t work, he can go back to the pen. If it does work, the Mets found their missing starter.
Also for the pen, this year there are some interesting arms on the farm that could come up to shore up the pen mid-year. Kunz, Rustich, and probably a couple of othersm Maybe the Mets can get one of those guys out of nowhere deals (Jaba, K Rod I think) where some minor league guy comes up and saves the pen.
I’d like Heilman to be given a shot for the rotation too, but if he under-performs, he loses trade value as a starter. And with Pelfrey and Humber supposedly competing for rotation spots, there really isn’t a spot for Heilman. He’s proven as a reliever, so I think it makes most sense to keep him in the pen, from a team standpoint.
Wise is a good pitcher and he was signed to pitch in the majors, not the minors. If he doesn’t get traded (doubtful), he’s on the roster. Count on it.
Sosa is likely the long guy at the present time, like it or not.
I honestly don’t see anything wrong with that…The chances that we find “lightning in a bottle” like we did with Darren Oliver who will never replicate those numbers again are slim anyway. Unless we get Santana and keep more of the kids than expected I would not be unhappy with Sosa in the long man role.
We should have kept Oliver (and Chad Bradford) when we had the chance. Oliver was very good for Anaheim last year, and Bradford continued his excellence for Baltimore.
I like Dotel a lot, but boy, is he an injury risk. When was the last time he didn’t have an injury-plagued year? 2003? As I said, I like his stuff, but you certainly cannot count on him for the year.
Yeah since burgos is basically gone for most of the year I am kind of happy to have a guy like Wise as a guaranteed roster spot
Wise is a solid middle inning guy, will give you a solid inning when he is pitched. He is around 32, a veteran reliever which is always good, and he has some solid pitches. Throws like a 90 mph fastball and a very deceptive change up. He is not a guy you have to lean on always but he seems to me as someone who will get oppurtunities to get some relief wins and will truly do his job in his new role on the mets.
If Heilman is traded away and Sanchez proves his worth again as a set up man I would be very comfortable with
Wise-Sanchez-Wagner
Even if heilman is not traded i do like a bullpen consisting of
Schoeneweis, Feliciano, Register, Wise, Heilman, Sanchez, Wagner
With guys like Sosa, Smith, Collazo, and Muniz competing for spots in spring training as well
Now as long as Willie does not tire at the bullpen early in the season and hopefully lets his starters pitch into the 7th the bullpen will remain solid. I dont truly think we need a guy like dotel, but since we do have the money to take the chance, 2 years for a hard throwing established pitcher is not a bad idea. Yet, of course the injuries always are a problem, but who knows a chance may pay off as much as i do not think he is necessary
I like Dotel a lot, but I’d rather Smith and other young guys compete for that spot.
Sign this guy. He can provide depth or replace Heilman if Omar deals him.
I’ll say it again…Matt Wise is NOT a good pitcher. He had one very good year, that’s it. Plus who knows if he is still a head case from hitting that batter last year. It is not Wise to count on him as being a valuable member of the bullpen.
The love affair with Heilman continues to baffle me. I just don’t know where you guys developed such affection for him. He will never start another game in a Mets uniform. That’s just the way it is.
You guys are really overrating Register. He has never pitched above AA and has not had an ERA below 4.00 at AA. Rule 5’s as often as not do not make the roster and are returned to the original team. I think it only costs the Mets like $25K for this transaction. I think two years ago the mets took Mitch Wylie as a rule 5, returned him to his original team who did not want him and the Mets were able to keep him in the minors all year. If the Mets see themselves as a playoff team, and with Willie’s preference for experience in the pen, I see it pretty unlikely that Register stays on the major league roster all season.
Right now I would say the seven men in the bullpen barring injury and trades given contract situations are:
Wagner
Feliciano
Heilman
Schoeneweis
Wise
Sanchez
Sosa
There is a chance Sanchez can start the year with a minor league rehab, Sosa with his inconsistency could miss. The other will all pretty much make the team given their guaranteed contracts.
Smith, Register, Collazo and Muniz are on the outside looking in right now.
Given Omar’s history, I am sure he will sign about 6 other pitchers to compete for a spot and add depth like Oliver, Sele, Park have in the past.
funny thing is, the bullpen is as settled in spring training as it ever has been although it is as bad as it has ever been.
We can alway’s trade some of the guys out of spring training that there is not space for for some other spare parts that we need. I say bring him in, that way we have another option if Sanchez is not 100% or if we have to trade Heilman to get an established starter, or for when El Duque gets hurt right out of spring training.
Volume is important with building a pen. Not having lots of guys on long term guaranteed deals also helps with flexibility.
Who knows which guys will be healthy enough to break camp with the Mets, and who will pitch poorly enough to lose a spot.
Somehow, this will settle out, and the young guys with options mostly go down, a surpirse has a great spring and makes the team, someone gets hurt, and the rest of the spare parts get cut, traded or sent to AAA for emergency depth.
Should be a fun compitition at least.