Hindsight: Building a Bullpen

Jared Macdonald — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:22:21 +0000

For the second consecutive offseason, Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos is once again faced with the task of restocking the Jays’ bullpen, with an emphasis on a permanent closer.

There are many expensive relievers available on this year’s free agent market but, as the Tampa Bay Rays proved this past season, a bullpen can be completely overhauled on the cheap and still be a strength.

In fact, here are four relievers that we profiled last year as potential options for the Jays that signed with other clubs. They performed very well this past season and did so for a combined salary of $6.325 million, while the Jays opted to sign Jon Rauch, Frank Francisco, Octavio Dotel, and Jason Frasor instead for a combined $13.75 million with mixed results.

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Closer Candidates Worth Considering If Octavio Dotel Deal Falls Through

Jared Macdonald — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 04:03:22 +0000

With names like Chad Qualls, Miguel Batista, Scot Shields, and Trevor Hoffman still looking for a job on the free agent market, the list of available closer candidates for the 2011 Blue Jays is very slim. The thin free-agent market makes you almost hope that the rumors are true about the Jays being close to a deal with former Pittsburgh Pirates closer Octavio Dotel.

If this tweet by Jon Heyman, from about one hour ago, is true, and the Pirates, Rays, or another club come in and “steal” Dotel away from the Blue Jays, here are two names that fly under the radar that the Jays could consider as their stop-gap closer for 2011. (more…)

Jays Journal » Takashi Saito

Hindsight: Building a Bullpen

Closer Candidates Worth Considering If Octavio Dotel Deal Falls Through