Clint Barmes turned down Brewers to sign with Pirates

No official announcement has been made yet, but Clint Barmes told Brian McTaggart of MLB.com that his new contract with the Pirates is a two-year, $10.5 million deal.

He’s expected to take a physical exam today, at which point it’ll be finalized and he’ll take over as Pittsburgh’s starting shortstop.

Barmes explained that he signed quickly because the Pirates “threw a great offer” his way whereas the Brewers wanted to wait until the Prince Fielder situation played out.

Barmes is right about the “great offer” part, as $10.5 million tops Jamey Carroll’s two-year, $6.75 million deal from the Twins and Mark Ellis’ two-year, $8.75 million deal from the Dodgers.

Barmes is younger than Carroll and Ellis, and more importantly he’s an elite defensive shortstop, but he’s also a career .230 hitter with a ghastly .270 on-base percentage and .360 slugging percentage away from Coors Field. Barmes was better than that in his first season since leaving the Rockies, hitting .244 with a .312 OBP and .386 slugging percentage, but clearly the Pirates are paying for his glove while hoping Barmes smacks 15 homers along with all that out-making.

And now the Brewers may be left turning back to an even more extreme out-maker without Barmes’ defensive skills in Yuniesky Betancourt.

Five years ago, Octavio Dotel retired following a 15-year career in which he pitched for a then-record 13 different teams. I’m not exactly sure what he’s been up to since then, but I know that today he got arrested, as did former Marlins, Twins and Mets second baseman Luis Castillo.

That’s the report from Héctor Gómez, and from the Dominican Today, each of whom report that the two ex-big leaguers were arrested today in connection with a longstanding money laundering and/or drug investigation focused on one César Peralta. also known as “César the Abuser.” So he sounds fun. Gómez characterizes it as a money laundering thing. Reporter Dionisio Soldevila characterizes it as “drug trafficking charges.” Such charges often go hand-in-hand, of course. I’m sure more details will be come out eventually. For now we have the report of their arrests. According to the Dominican Today, four cars belonging to Dotel were confiscated as well.

Dotel didn’t debut until he was 25, and for his first couple of years with the Mets and Astros he struggled to establish himself as a starter. He was switched full-time to the Houston bullpen at 27, however, and went on to make 724 relief appearances with a 3.32 ERA and a .207 opponents’ batting average while racking up 955 strikeouts in 760 innings. At the time of his retirement his career strikeout rate — 10.8 per nine innings — was the best in the history of baseball for right-handed pitchers with at least 900 innings, edging out Kerry Wood and Pedro Martinez.

Castillo also played 15 seasons, with a career line of .290/.368/.351. He was a three-time All Star and won three Gold Glove awards.

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