UPDATE: Dejan is now reporting that a Pirates source has refuted that any offer has been made to Dotel. Of course, the Pirates also said on the record -- multiple times -- that they were tendering Matt Capps a contract, and they didn’t do that. They also said they weren’t going to pay a reliever $3 million, but Dejan reports that they made a last ditch offer to Capps of “close to $3 million” before Capps signed with the Nats last night. They have also, just recently, changed course with free agent candidates based on what was reported in the media, so forgive me if I’m less than 100% cowed by the denial.
But assuming Dejan is right, however -- and it’s a fair assumption given that he’s the most plugged-in guy in Pittsburgh -- I’m not sure how I could have possibly been wrong yesterday. My source is gold! He’s the same guy who told me that Dewey beat Truman and that all that yellowcake uranium was floating around Baghdad!
2:25 P.M.: A source tells me that the Pirates have made an offer to Octavio Dotel to be their closer. The offer: $3 million plus games-finished incentives. Not a deal yet or anything, but it’s out there.
Dotel has turned in back-to-back healthy seasons since coming back from Tommy John surgery, and he continues to post excellent strikeout numbers. Still, surprising that he’s being looked at as a closer. Then again, these are the Pirates.