Derek Shelton offered condolences to the friends and family of Octavio Dotel's this afternoon ahead of the Pirates' matchup against the Cardinals tonight at PNC Park.
Dotel, 51, died early this morning, according to multiple national reports, after the roof of the Jet Set night club in the Dominican Republic collapsed. Dotel was pulled from the rubble but reportedly passed away while being transferred to the hospital.
"I want to offer condolences to the Dotel family. I think you guys all heard about what happened in the Dominican Republic," Shelton said. "Obviously, Octavio played here. He was in the league when I was coaching. And to Nelson Cruz, he lost a sister. Nelson is a very dear and personal friend of mine and people in our clubhouse, thoughts and prayers go out.”
Dotel played for the Pirates during the 2010 season, appearing in 41 games while producing a 4.28 ERA over 40 innings. He was traded to the Dodgers in the middle of that season and was then dealt again to the Rockies. He played for 13 teams in his career and won a World Series in 2011 with the Cardinals. He produced a career 3.78 ERA and recorded 109 saves.
A few other notes from Shelton's availability:
• On dealing with today's cold weather: “It’s cold. We are in Pittsburgh in April, it’s one of those things. Our guys have played in other places. I’ve coached in places where it’s cold. We just have to make sure we stay ahead of it a little bit.”
• Shelton said using just Carmen Mlodzinski and Thomas Harrington on the mound yesterday, gives them a little more flexibility with the bullpen in terms of who they can use and in what situations: "Now we have some flexibility with different guys available to be able to figure that out. I think we are still in the process of figuring out what those roles are going to be."
That has been an ongoing process for the Pirates this season as they recently demoted David Bednar to Class AAA Indianapolis and no relief pitcher has worked in one set role yet. Dennis Santana and Ryan Borucki have both worked in the ninth inning and Shelton said with a fully healthy and available bullpen, up to five guys could work in leverage situations.
"Some of that is right/left based, a lot of it is just matchup based depending on what a team has in their lineup? Who you know they are going to pinch-hit? Who they have available? All of those factors come into play," Shelton said.
• Isiah Kiner-Falefa has been one of the team's best hitters early this season with a slash line of .343/.439/.371 and an OPS of .810. He's added four RBIs, five walks and one double while working from the bottom of the order. Despite his recent success, Shelton said he doesn't plan on moving Kiner-Falefa from that spot.
"He’s having consistent at-bats and turning over our lineup," Shelton said. "Right now, he looks good there, looks comfortable there. I don’t plan on moving him off there, at least on a consistent basis. Maybe every once in a while, but consistently I think it’ll be closer to there.”
I asked Shelton before their home opener on Friday about the success that Kiner-Falefa has had early on this season and what kind of value he's brought to the team at the bottom of the order.
"I think he's kinda stabilized it and has allowed us to roll over in a good spot," Shelton said. "I think IKF has played really well on both sides of the ball in the early going. But he's had really consistent at bats and has handled the bat well when we've asked him to do things situationally."
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THE ASYLUM
Greg Macafee
8:45 pm - 04.08.2025NORTH SHOREShelton offers condolences to Dotel's family
Derek Shelton offered condolences to the friends and family of Octavio Dotel's this afternoon ahead of the Pirates' matchup against the Cardinals tonight at PNC Park.
Dotel, 51, died early this morning, according to multiple national reports, after the roof of the Jet Set night club in the Dominican Republic collapsed. Dotel was pulled from the rubble but reportedly passed away while being transferred to the hospital.
"I want to offer condolences to the Dotel family. I think you guys all heard about what happened in the Dominican Republic," Shelton said. "Obviously, Octavio played here. He was in the league when I was coaching. And to Nelson Cruz, he lost a sister. Nelson is a very dear and personal friend of mine and people in our clubhouse, thoughts and prayers go out.”
Dotel played for the Pirates during the 2010 season, appearing in 41 games while producing a 4.28 ERA over 40 innings. He was traded to the Dodgers in the middle of that season and was then dealt again to the Rockies. He played for 13 teams in his career and won a World Series in 2011 with the Cardinals. He produced a career 3.78 ERA and recorded 109 saves.
A few other notes from Shelton's availability:
• On dealing with today's cold weather: “It’s cold. We are in Pittsburgh in April, it’s one of those things. Our guys have played in other places. I’ve coached in places where it’s cold. We just have to make sure we stay ahead of it a little bit.”
• Shelton said using just Carmen Mlodzinski and Thomas Harrington on the mound yesterday, gives them a little more flexibility with the bullpen in terms of who they can use and in what situations: "Now we have some flexibility with different guys available to be able to figure that out. I think we are still in the process of figuring out what those roles are going to be."
That has been an ongoing process for the Pirates this season as they recently demoted David Bednar to Class AAA Indianapolis and no relief pitcher has worked in one set role yet. Dennis Santana and Ryan Borucki have both worked in the ninth inning and Shelton said with a fully healthy and available bullpen, up to five guys could work in leverage situations.
"Some of that is right/left based, a lot of it is just matchup based depending on what a team has in their lineup? Who you know they are going to pinch-hit? Who they have available? All of those factors come into play," Shelton said.
• Isiah Kiner-Falefa has been one of the team's best hitters early this season with a slash line of .343/.439/.371 and an OPS of .810. He's added four RBIs, five walks and one double while working from the bottom of the order. Despite his recent success, Shelton said he doesn't plan on moving Kiner-Falefa from that spot.
"He’s having consistent at-bats and turning over our lineup," Shelton said. "Right now, he looks good there, looks comfortable there. I don’t plan on moving him off there, at least on a consistent basis. Maybe every once in a while, but consistently I think it’ll be closer to there.”
I asked Shelton before their home opener on Friday about the success that Kiner-Falefa has had early on this season and what kind of value he's brought to the team at the bottom of the order.
"I think he's kinda stabilized it and has allowed us to roll over in a good spot," Shelton said. "I think IKF has played really well on both sides of the ball in the early going. But he's had really consistent at bats and has handled the bat well when we've asked him to do things situationally."
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
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