This doesn't really have anything to do with the Mariners*, but in case you missed it, Miguel Olivo had a busy Thursday evening. The Rockies were running up against a midnight deadline to pick up or decline his 2011 option. Rather than sort it out for themselves, though, the Rockies traded Olivo to the Blue Jays at 10:14pm ET. That made Olivo Jays property until the Jays declined his option at 11:47pm ET, making him a free agent. Two teams, two countries, 93 minutes. And now he gets to sign wherever he wants.
The Rockies did it so they wouldn't have to pay Olivo's $500k buyout. The Blue Jays did it so they could get a draft pick for the Type B free agent. It's completely sensible for both teams, but also completely ridiculous for the player involved, who must've had a world of trouble trying to figure out what was happening to him.
O'Dowd: Hey, Miguel!
O'Dowd: Miguel Miguel Miguel
Olivo: hey
O'Dowd: Miguelllll
O'Dowd: So I've got someone I'd like you to talk to
O'Dowd: He'll be calling you in a minute, that ok?
Olivo: sure
Olivo: who
O'Dowd: Your new boss!
Olivo: what
O'Dowd: :hangs up:
Phone: :rings:
Olivo: hello
Anthopoulos: Hey Mr. Olivo, this is Alex Anthopoulos.
Olivo: alex an
Olivo: alex ag
Olivo: alex acropolis
Olivo: mr alex
Anthopoulos: I'm the general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays. I would like to personally welcome you aboard!
Olivo: oh ok
Anthopoulos: The Rockies have traded you to us. We have big plans for you.
Olivo: this is exciting for me
Anthopoulos: Our first big plan is that we have declined your option and you are a free agent now. Toodles!
Olivo: you know i don't like curveballs
* as a Mariners tie-in, it's sometimes easy to forget that Olivo spent a year in Seattle after coming over in the Freddy Garcia trade. Over that year, he batted .176 with a .218 OBP and 14 walks. That would be twice as many walks as he drew with the Royals in 2008. Additionally, with the Marlins in 2006, Olivo drew nine walks in 127 games, four of which were intentional. He also struck out 103 times. That strikeout-to-unintentional-walk ratio of 20.6 is the worst of all time, with Shawon Dunston's 13.5 from 1997 sitting in second place.
(It is also the worst K/BB ever even without subtracting the intentional walks.)
3 recs | 57 comments
How can you forget Miguel?
between the kidney stones, the smile and the terrible hitting….
msb - November 5, 2010
I interviewed him during his rehab stint in Everett!
How high our hopes were for that short period of time.
JY - November 5, 2010
So when can we expect the Titans to pick him up?
ThomasG - November 5, 2010
So they found a way to sell a draft pick for cash!
ARock - November 5, 2010
This almost seems like collusion to me....
Or at least a way to play the system. I suppose it didn’t truly affect the player, so collusion is out the window. Still won’t MLB question this?
Thingray - November 5, 2010
I thought this story was intriguing for the same reason
Alex Anthopoulos has, assuming things work out the way he planned, found a way to trade for a draft pick.
JLC - November 5, 2010
Except that it only works at the end of the season
Torgen - November 5, 2010
Still, it seems like a loophole.
Thingray - November 5, 2010
If you are saying that Anthopoulos cannot trade for a draft pick in the middle of the season, then yes, that is true.
But this trade is significant because draft picks cannot be traded for anything in MLB, period.
JLC - November 5, 2010
but they can be, essentially
by trading for any player that is due to be a free agent, you also get his potential draft picks if he signs somewhere else.
zenbitz - November 5, 2010
There's always the chance Olivo will accept arbitration.
PissedMick - November 5, 2010
Yes
But the probability of that occurring, at least to the Blue Jays, is remote. It’s clear that the purpose of trading for Olivo was solely for the possibility of the pick. The Jays have 4 catchers now including Olivo and they declined his relatively inexpensive option.
The interesting part is that Olivo was traded for cash considerations or a PTBNL. I’m curious if the quality of the PTBNL is contingent on whether or not the Jays get the supplemental pick.
JLC - November 5, 2010
Why does it seem that the Mariners have ties to so many worst ever statistic?
Robert - November 5, 2010
I liked Miguel Olivo
Sure he was horrid and sure he never helped us, but that year we had him he was the best hitter on the team in the xbox baseball game I had.
Also, the trainers always said he was the strongest Mariner.
Smegmalicious - November 5, 2010
He looked strong
ignacio - November 5, 2010
Why does it feel like Olivo played here a lot longer than ~1 year.
I feel like he was annoying for a lot longer than that.
dkulich - November 5, 2010
I was thinking this too.
The Eric Byrnes post had me wondering which players were here for less than a year that we’ll never forget. Olivo is one of those guys too.
Kenneth Arthur - November 5, 2010
Greg Pirkl only played in 43 games, and he'll always be remembered.
Mark Whiten, Bucky Jacobsen, Glenallen Hill, Kevin Mitchell, Andy Benes, Griffey, Rich Aurilia, Josias Manzanillo, Wilson Valdez
yuniform - November 5, 2010
Bobby Madritsch
ignacio - November 5, 2010
=(
Ace of the future!
harkening - November 5, 2010
John Parrish, Rick White
Fuckmikereilly - November 5, 2010
I hope to forget Rick White
ignacio - November 5, 2010
I hope Olivo accepts arbitration
In fact, I hope Buck does too. That would give the Blue Jays 4 catchers going into next season.
Michael Barr - November 5, 2010
I'm sure they wouldn't mind giving one to us.
Eyeball Kid - November 5, 2010
I'd take JP Arencibia
oh, man what a beautiful day that would be. We could finally make R Johnson a bat boy. Which, I guess would be ironic since he really can’t use a bat very well, but whatever.
Michael Barr - November 5, 2010
This got me wondering
Who’s the definitive shitty-as-a-Mariner, awesome-somewhere-else player?
After looking at some of Olivo’s numbers, it’s probably not him – for some reason, I was thinking that his hitting was way more awesome than it actually is. Still, though, it’s an interesting question.
Carlos Guillen leaps to mind, although he wasn’t shitty so much as mediocre.
huskies2010 - November 5, 2010
There are just too many to list.
Smegmalicious - November 5, 2010
Griffey.
He was pretty darn good for the Reds all those years, but for some reason the Mariners had to go and get him for ’09 and ’10. Ugh.
He should have just stayed in Cincinnati and he could have retired saying he played for the same team his whole career. Would have been nice.
Eyebrows - November 5, 2010 via mobile
You just confused me so much.
HititHere - November 5, 2010
Yeah, my brain just shut down trying to figure this out.
Thingray - November 5, 2010
Joke I hope?
If it is, you suck at them. If it’s not, you are retarded.
Patrick Stites - November 5, 2010 via mobile
New here?
Mariner John - November 5, 2010
If not, he is retarded.
Eyeball Kid - November 5, 2010
If it is, he sucks at life.
seattlebruin - November 5, 2010
Usually if you're unsure of something's meaning here it's best to just be polite and ask.
Decatur - November 5, 2010
This is way past the no hostility rule.
Consider this a warning.
Matthew - November 5, 2010
I apologize to Eyebrows and the LL community as a whole.
Temporary lapse in judgement, I’ll make sure to watch what I say from now on.
Patrick Stites - November 5, 2010
Derek Lowe?
ThomasG - November 5, 2010
Maybe.
Lowe only played like half a season though. I was thinking more full-season guys. Ryan Franklin? Matt Thornton?
huskies2010 - November 5, 2010
Jose Cruz Jr.
I as so pissed when he left, then he turned into nothing.
Thingray - November 5, 2010
I looked up Cruz because of this.
2001: 4.0 oWAR, -2.2 dWAR.
2003: 1.5 oWAR, 3.8 dWAR.
What?
huskies2010 - November 5, 2010
.
seattlebruin - November 5, 2010
Shin Soo-Choo's 33 ABs here were pretty terrible.
PissedMick - November 5, 2010
Matt Thornton?
Eyeball Kid - November 5, 2010
Ah fuck, he's been mentioned already
Adrian Beltre?
Kidding.
Eyeball Kid - November 5, 2010
Jose Lopez
Corco - November 5, 2010
Eric Byrnes.
CapSea - November 5, 2010
Though he wasn't technically "awesome",
Jeff Cirillo was pretty darned good before the total suckfest he showed when he was here.
ToddK - November 6, 2010
I like the AP report about this
Linked here
It doesn’t mention the Type B Free Agent / draft pick portion of this, so those who did not know that Olivo was a Type B Free Agent would be left wondering if Toronto is run by schizophrenics.
Gihyou - November 5, 2010
I wish I could forget Miguel Olivo as a Mariner.
When we got him I thought we had acquired a good defensive catcher with some pop. He turned out to be Rob Johnson long before there was a real Rob Johnson only with more passed balls. My lasting memory of Miguel Olivo is of him chasing balls to the backstop, much like my memory of Rob Johnson will be.
Droid Rage - November 5, 2010
Miguel Olivo is still one of my all time favorite godawful players
Corco - November 5, 2010
That BB/K record is one of my favorite records ever.
Goose - November 5, 2010
I sometimes get Miguel Olivo and Miguel Cairo confused on account of they both sucked a lot
Nick S - November 5, 2010
Don't forget Miguel Ojeda
Matthew - November 5, 2010
Holy shit
Jeff Sullivan - November 6, 2010
Miguel Cairo is the one with the ears.
msb - November 5, 2010
YES! Wow. I actually forgot they were two different people.
CapSea - November 5, 2010
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