Dotel has the moves down
On 13th stop, reliever set for record with Tigers
LAKELAND, Fla. — Octavio Dotel is the vagabond of Major League Baseball, a relief pitcher who lives out of a suitcase, never putting down roots, drifting from city to city, team to team.
When he suits up for the Detroit Tigers on opening day, Dotel will become the only player in major league history to have played for 13 teams. Assuming, of course, he doesn’t get traded before then.
Dotel will break the record that he shares with pitchers Mike Morgan (1978-2002) and Ron Villone (1995-2009) and outfielder-first baseman Matt Stairs (1992-2011).
But Dotel, 38, wants his moving days to end. He signed a free agent deal with Detroit in December and wants to retire as a Tiger.
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“I hope so,” said Dotel, who has a career 54-47 record with a 3.47 ERA and 108 saves in 695 major league games. “I have the record now, so I don’t need any more teams.”
Throughout his 13-year career, Dotel has lived in perpetual transition, always prepared for the next move.
When he switches to a new city, he never buys a house or condo; he always rents. And he never buys furniture; he tries to find a place that is fully furnished. He never changes his driver’s license, his license plates or his car registration.
This is a guy who was once traded from the home dugout to the visitors dugout. In 2010, he was playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers when he was traded to the visiting Colorado Rockies. He went from clubhouse to clubhouse.
“Through the tunnel I went,” Dotel said. “Crazy. Unbelievable.”
He walked into the Rockies locker room and declared, “I’m here, the new guy.”
Dotel, who lives in the Dominican Republic in the offseason, is proud to have played with so many teams. In his eyes, it means he is a wanted man, a trusted arm in the bullpen. Many times, he has been traded from a bad team to a good team near the end of a season, which is what happened last year when he was traded by the Toronto Blue Jays to the St. Louis Cardinals just in time to play for a World Series winner.
He has appeared in the postseason four times, but 2011 was his first trip to the World Series.
Dotel had nothing against Toronto; he just didn’t feel he was used enough. He was thrilled to go to St. Louis.
“When I heard the news,” Dotel said, “when the (Cardinals) GM (John Mozeliak) called me, I hung up and I was like, ‘Yes!’ ”
A familiar face
For the Tigers, Dotel will be used as a seventh-inning reliever, setting up Joaquin Benoit for the eighth and Jose Valverde for the ninth.
If Benoit and/or Valverde needs a rest, Dotel can fill the closer’s role.
“He’s a proven big-league pitcher; he’s got a rubber arm,” Tigers President and general manager Dave Dombrowski said. “For us, he fits in very well because he has also closed.”
Dotel came up as a power pitcher with the New York Mets in 1999. He once hit 100 mph on a radar gun in a game in Texas. But the years, not to mention Tommy John elbow surgery in 2005, have caught up to him. He has lost velocity — he says he regularly touches 93 or 94 now — but he is more of a pitcher, as he has learned to rely on his guile.
“He has good ability,” Dombrowski said. “He has pitched in clutch situations. He has been consistently good.”
Dotel said he was excited about moving to Detroit because he loved cars. He also loves the potential of his new team.
He has former teammates scattered across baseball, but only one is a member of the 2012 Tigers. Backup catcher Gerald Laird played with Dotel last season in St. Louis.
“He’s a character,” Laird said. “He’s a funny guy. He’s the same guy every day, just a pleasure to be around.”
Dotel loves to spend his time playing cards, especially on long road trips.
“He’s got a bad poker face,” Laird said, “but he’s a good poker player.”
The expert packer
Dotel can rattle off the teams that he has played for, but his wife, Massiel, struggles to remember the different stops.
After listing eight teams with ease, she ran out of steam and couldn’t remember the rest.
Whenever he switches organizations — he played for three teams in 2010 — the real work falls to Massiel to move the family.
“I’m used to it,” she said. “We have to do it. What can we do, right? We don’t think about it. It’s pretty normal.” She has become an expert packer. “I can pack everything in three days,” Massiel Dotel said. “Usually, there is someone with me, maybe his brother or his mother. I’m not alone. I have somebody help me.”
Massiel packs everything in suitcases. She doesn’t bother with moving vans because, well, he could get traded again before they arrive.
She takes her suitcases to the airport, marking them with something colorful so she doesn’t forget one of the bags.
“I usually have 13 or 14 suitcases when we move,” she said. “After so many moves, I’m really good at it.”
But it has gotten harder as their family has grown.
Massiel and Octavio have been married six years and have a son, Eduardo, 22 months old. Massiel is pregnant with a girl, and a cesarean section is planned for Thursday.
They have rented an apartment near the stadium.
Massiel is hoping her husband ends the season with the Tigers.
“This year, we are traveling with two babies instead of one,” she said. “I hope he plays the whole year in Detroit.”