The Toronto Blue Jays have signed RHP Octavio Dotel to a $3.75 million contract, with a club option for 2012.
Why is this significant? Dotel was acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers at the end of last season to aid in the playoff push. Though the Colorado Rockies failed to make the playoffs, they decided to offer contract arbitration to Dotel, a Type B free agent.
Dotel declined arbitration, thus ensuring the Colorado Rockies will receive an extra draft pick in the supplementary round (between the first and second rounds) of next year’s2011 Amateur Draft, widely considered to be the deepest draft in years.
Colorado and Toronto essentially swapped supplementary picks, as catcher Miguel Olivo was traded to the Blue Jays for $500,000. Toronto offered Olivo arbitration before he declined and signed a two year deal with the Seattle Mariners.