I've received some emails concerning the impact of Octavio Dotel being the closer for the Pirates.  He will be the closer for the Pirates opening day and Dotel makes a great candidate for a closer on a bad team.  The hurdle that Dotel will have to clear by opening day is his health.  He is already having issues with discomfort after throwing at camp.  With Hanrahan shelved for the next month and likely to be on the DL come opening day, there really isn't much of a threat to Dotel.  Brendan Donnelly is slated to setup for Dotel and that makes a nice 1-2 punch for the Pirates late in the game.

I wouldn't get too excited about Dotel putting up big numbers and getting a great value in the draft.  While his K/9 has remained high over the past two years, so has his BB/9.  Last year for the White Sox he had a BB/9 of 5.20 and a career high WHIP of 1.44 (season with over 60 app).  Allot of people remember Dotel from his days with Houston and Oakland where he posted good save numbers and a much lower WHIP.  While his K/9 of 10.83 last season is still very impressive, Dotel tends to linger in a realm of inconsistency and injury and you don't want to be there with any of your closers. 

Adding insult to that injury, Dotel enters the season at the ripe age of 36, and I fear that his body will not hold up the entire season and Hanrahan or another RP on Pittsburgh will have the job by July.  If Dotel can stay healthy all season, then expect a solid numbers from the former hard throwing closer.  He legitimately could stay healthy with a lack of appearances due to the Pirates inability to win.  Regardless of the large amount of risk associated with Dotel, he makes a great deep sleeper pick in the late rounds of the draft, but don't bite too high on Dotel or you could pay for it when he is shelved with an injury of some sort. My analysis may come across as confusing. I just don't buy into injury-prone closers on bad teams, but you can't ignore his talent as a closer.

The Pittsburgh Pirates came in dead last for team save projections, so don't expect too much from Dotel.  My projections are based on him making 70 appearances, which he has only done once since 2004.