Major League Baseball

Dotel traded for second time this season

Published Sep. 18, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

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The Los Angeles Dodgers traded reliever Octavio Dotel and cash to the Colorado Rockies shortly before the teams played each other Saturday.

The deal, for a player to be named later, was announced less than an hour before the Rockies' 12-2 victory. Dotel didn't pitch in the game.

''This is the shortest trip to Colorado he'll ever take,'' Dodgers manager Joe Torre quipped. ''He's easy to like and easy to have in the clubhouse. I had him before in New York. It was a little tough for him back there because we gave him a number of different jobs to do, so we never really gave him regular work and that may have contributed to his inconsistency.''

Dotel has a 49-42 career record and 105 saves, including a combined total of 36 saves in 2004 with Houston and Oakland. He began this season as the Pirates' closer after signing with them as a free agent in January following two seasons with the White Sox. The Pirates dealt the 36-year-old righty to the Dodgers on July 31 for pitcher James McDonald.

The Rockies are Dotel's 10th team in 12 major league campaigns. He's 3-3 with a 3.99 ERA in 60 appearances this season. His addition bolsters an already impressive bullpen for the Rockies' stretch drive, and manager Jim Tracy expects him to complement the late-inning work of Matt Belisle and Rafael Betancourt as a bridge to closer Huston Street. But because Dotel was acquired after Sept. 1, he's not eligible for the postseason.

''Over the course of the final 15 games of the season, it's an extra arm in situations that make sense for him - versus using up a Belisle and a Betancourt in situations that now we wouldn't necessarily have to,'' Tracy said.

''Now we've got another proven arm down in our bullpen,'' he said.