Breaking It Down – Dotel Traded To L.A.

07/31/2010 4:16 PM -  Fred Zinkie

The Dodgers made a small move at the deadline that has a big impact on fantasy baseball leagues when they traded for Octavio Dotel.  This deal changes the value of several players – let’s take a look at all of them:

Octavio Dotel – He will slide in a strong L.A. bullpen and make them even better.  He should be effective as part of the set-up crew for Jonathan Broxton. That being said, he likely won’t get more than 1-2 saves over the rest of the season so he has no value in just about every fantasy league.  Broxton is healthy and reliable – cut Dotel.

Evan Meek/Joel Hanrahan – They are expected to split the closing duties in Pittsburgh for now.  It is possible that one of them emerges as the full-time closer at some point but they have both pitched well this year so both could be successful enough to stay in the mix.  Fantasy owners in mixed leagues might not find too much value in either player as a 50% closer on a last place team.  Let’s say that the Pirates generate 12-14 more save chances this season.  Both players could end up with about 6 saves – not great value.

James McDonald – He was traded to Pittsburgh in the deal after failing in two separate attempts to join L.A.’s rotation in the past two seasons.  He has looked pretty bad in the majors but his minor league work puts him in a better light.  He could develop into a serviceable major league starter but he isn’t useful in leagues this year.