Update 1/21 23:13: Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, compares Octavio Dotel and Matt Capps. You can read it here.

1/21 11:20am: The Pirates announced that Dotel passed his physical and signed his contract. To clear space on the full 40-man roster, the team designated for assignment reliever Anthony Claggett.

Pirates GM, Neal Huntington, said that Dotel will be the closer.

1/20 20:02: Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, has reported that the Pittsburgh Pirates and free agent reliever Octavio Dotel have agreed to terms. The deal is a one-year contract plus a club option for 2011. The agreement is pending a physical which is scheduled for Thursday.

Financial terms are not available. According to Kovacevic, Dotel made $6 million with the Chicago White Sox last season, and his new salary is expected to be half of that.

Dotel will probably be named the team’s closer. However, management sees two closer candidates in Joel Hanrahan and Evan Meek.

In 11 seasons, the 36-year-old Dotel has compiled a 46-39 record with a 3.73 ERA and 83 saves over 770 1/3 innings pitched.  You can see Dotel’s complete statistics here.