The Yankees Just Traded Adam Ottavino To The Red Sox...WHAT?!
Uhhhhhhhh…WHAT?!
I mean, good for the Red Sox? Right? The fuck? When's the last time the Red Sox and Yankees made a legit trade with each other, Stephen Drew? Does that even count? This was a salary dump for the Yankees, who had about $2 million of wiggle room to work with under the luxury tax, so now they've got roughly $10 million to play with to maybe grab another starter since basically their entire rotation after Gerrit Cole combined for one inning last year.
Adam Ottavino is set to make $8 million in the final year of his three-year pact that he signed with the Yankees back in January of 2019. The Red Sox will gladly pay that for a legit reliever, considering they've got next to nothing in their bullpen. 2020 wasn't the best year of Ottavino's career, as the right-hander allowed 12 earned runs in 18.1 ininngs, but we're gonna chalk that up to a fake Covid season.
Between 2018-19, Ottavino appeared in 148 games, posted a 2.19 ERA, a 1.14 WHIP, and struck out 200 batters in 144 innings. That's a nasty 12.5 K/9 aided by one of the best sliders in the game today. I'm still stunned the Yankees did this. I guess, when you consider that they've got an embarrassment of riches in their bullpen already, they can afford to spare one of their older arms in exchange for salary relief to address an area of greater need. I would also imagine they wouldn't be doing this unless they had some sort of handshake agreement with another starting pitcher in mind to then allocate Ottavino's vacated salary to. Perhaps Jake Odorizzi is headed to the Bronx or Masahiro Tanaka changed his mind about coming back for one last run.
We'll find out soon. But either way, damn. I knew Chaim Bloom would have to get creative if he were going to make some notable upgrades to the 2021 Boston Red Sox roster, but a trade with the New York Yankees for a legit reliever was not something that I had on my Bingo board. In Chaim Bloom We Trust.
PS -- I feel like I need to add this because of the "Red Sox aren't making the playoffs anyway" crowd. Ottavino is only here on a one-year deal, and the likelihood that the Red Sox contend for a championship in 2021 isn't very high. So, why trade for a veteran reliever in a year you probably won't contend for a championship in? Because if Boston is out of it by the trade deadline, Chaim Bloom can just flip Ottavino to a contender for prospects. It cost literally nothing to acquire him, so that's free prospects in the Red Sox system courtesy of the Yankees.
Also, in acquiring Ottavino for nothing but agreeing to take on his salary, the Red Sox got a right-handed pitching prospect by the name of Frank German who throws 98 and has a nasty slider. They basically bought a prospect and can turn Ottavino into more prospects. Sounds pretty good to me.