Adam Ottavino traded to Yankees Red Sox

BOSTON – Seeking to improve their field, the Red Sox have turned to their main rivals for help. And somewhat surprisingly, their wish was granted.

On Monday, the Sox acquired the right-hander Adam ottavino of the Yankees. Boston also received right-hander Frank German – who was No. 24 for the Yankees by MLB Pipeline – in the deal. The Red Sox will send a nominee or cash player to the Yankees for both pitchers.

It was the first trade between the Red Sox and the Yankees since 2014, when Stephen Drew traveled to New York in exchange for Kelly Johnson.

“I think that’s what surprised me the most today, just that it was this type of trading,” Ottavino said. “I feel like I’ll end up asking a trivial question one day. When [Yankees general manager Brian] Cashman told me Red Sox, it wasn’t the name I expected. I knew I could be traded, but I certainly didn’t expect it. It’s pretty fun to be a part of something a little bit out of the ordinary.

Ottavino will be one of the most important members of a box that the Red Sox expect to improve a lot from last season.

“It was a move where we felt we were able to achieve a number of different goals,” said Boston baseball manager Chaim Bloom. “We acquired Adam Ottavino, who is a veteran reliever who’s been very successful, successful in our division, has swing-and-miss stuff that plays against everyone, and especially the right-handed hitters. a lot of right-handed hitters in our division and others seem to continue to join. “

The Yankees, along with DJ LeMahieu, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres, Gary Sanchez, Luke Voit and Gio Urshela, rightly dominate like any team in the league. The Red Sox will count on Ottavino to help neutralize this powerful formation late in the round.

Ottavino owes $ 8 million in 2021. The Yankees will send the Red Sox $ 850,000 in trade, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. So Boston will be on the hook for $ 7.15 million from Ottavino’s salary. Ottavino signed a three-year, $ 27 million contract on Jan. 24, 2019, which means he has $ 9 million for the luxury tax in 21. Subtracting the $ 850,000 the Yankees sent into the Under the deal, Red Sox success for that year is $ 8,150,000.

Why would the Yankees turn Ottavino over to the Red Sox as a dumping ground? Not only does New York have a current rundown to fit into the recent deals with LeMahieu and Corey Kluber, but they can also use some of the savings from Ottavino trading to meet other club needs. .

“We were really just looking at how it fits our goals,” Bloom said. “I think it’s important, even though it’s the Yankees. It is very difficult to be great if you are too busy caring about everyone. We have to take care of ourselves.

The addition of Ottavino ends a busy day for Bloom, who sources say came to an agreement with super-utility man Enrique Hernández on a two-year, $ 14 million deal on Friday, then agreed to terms on Saturday with right-handed starter Garrett Richards. on a one-year, $ 10 million contract that includes a 2022 club option.

Although Red Sox President / CEO Sam Kennedy was frank in telling Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe last week, “I think it would be incorrect to say that we are going with a holistic approach that we might have passed before the 2018 title, ”The recent wave of moves shows Bloom is motivated to put a team on the pitch in ’21.

“Well, we really feel like we’re about to be in a good position soon, compared to where we started the offseason,” Bloom said. “It’s interesting in that the pace of this offseason has been so different that it feels like there are still a lot of dominoes to drop in the industry, so if that’s the case this means that there may be opportunities to do more to achieve the goals for us. But we’re hoping to be here soon in a position where we can look around and say that we have accomplished a lot of things that we planned from the start, and we can take that and go from there.

In addition to their recent moves, the Sox would still like to add to their outfield, and the club are keeping an eye out for free agent center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr., who has spent his entire career in Boston.

After a brilliant season for the Yankees in 2019 (1.90 ERA in 73 games), Ottavino was not so strong in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, registering a 5.89 ERA in 24 appearances. However, his ERA was skewed by a tough outing against the Blue Jays on September 7, when he gave up six points without recording a withdrawal. If you subtract that performance, Ottavino would have had an ERA of 2.95.

While the Yankees should fare better than the retooling Red Sox in 2021, Ottavino is eager to see what it’s like to throw on the other side of the rivalry. He started college for Northeastern University, which is less than a mile from Fenway Park.

“I am very excited,” said Ottavino. “I was a little surprised today when I heard the news, but all in all Boston is always a place I wanted to play. I went to school there, I really feel right at home in Fenway and all that good stuff. I am really happy to bring what I bring. Hopefully I can do my thing out of the bullpen and help us win some baseball games.

Ottavino has mostly been a man of setup in his career, despite having 19 career saves. It remains to be seen if the Red Sox would give him the chance to close.

Matt Barnes took over the Boston closing role last August when Brandon Workman was dealt to the Phillies. The Barnes hard pitcher was also primarily used in a setup capability in his career.

“[Manager] Alex [Cora] and I was talking about this while it was coming together. At the end of the day, we think we’ve just acquired someone who’s really capable of pitching in any late-inning situation, ”Bloom said. “How it moves in terms of who’s closing is something we’ll be discussing again, but it’s just good to have someone with experience and experience pitching in these situations to add to our mix, and then just figure out From there. “

“We dug into that a bit,” Bloom said. “Especially when guys are starting to be in their thirties, that’s obviously something you want to watch out for. Really, under the hood it all looked a lot like 2019. I think you can see that in a lot of its outlying issues. The stuff was still in place. Lots of things in terms of things, in terms of execution, in terms of a lot of outcomes you expected, it was all still in place. All of this is very encouraging as we look to 2021. ”

Like many people around the world, Ottavino is happy that 2020 is in the rearview mirror.

“[It] has been a difficult year for me personally on the ball field. I just didn’t pitch the way I wanted overall and then I probably had the worst game of my career here in the middle which made it even harder to manage and then got me not really given much of a chance in the playoffs. , so it was difficult, ”said Ottavino. “I think it wasn’t all great. There were some things about it that were good. I learned some things going through it and I’m really excited for this next season, but I’m going to try to put that last year behind me for sure.

A first-round selection for the Cardinals in the 2006 MLB Draft, Ottavino remained in the St. Louis system for six years, appearing in just five Big League games. It was claimed waivers by the Rockies in 2012.

Ottavino had a strong seven-year run in the Colorado reliever box, posting a 3.41 ERA. He became a free agent after the 2018 season, and the Red Sox were one of the teams interested in his services before signing a three-year, $ 27 million contract with the Yankees.

Throughout his career, Ottavino has overpowered righties, holding them at a slash of .212 / .291 / .324. He had a bit of a slippage during his 2020 season, as the Righties cut .263 / .311 / .439 against him.

Exchanges between the Red Sox and the Yankees take place less often than presidential elections. Before the Drew-Johnson trade in 2014, the teams hadn’t been matched since 1997, when Mike Stanley switched from the Sox to the Yankees to Tony Armas Jr. A few months later, the Red Sox packed Armas as part of their exchange. with the Expos to land the future Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez.

Just before the 1986 season, the rivals traded designated hitters, as Don Baylor came to Boston in exchange for Mike Easler.

Of course, no Red Sox fan wants to hear about the most famous exchange between the rivals – the one that involved Babe Ruth.

“I know it’s the Yankees, and I understand what that means. It’s the most famous rivalry in sports, ”Bloom said. “Part of what makes the story of this organization so great is getting to shake horns with these guys on a regular basis. But if we are not willing to do something that helps us because it helps them … or worse, if we are worried that it does not go as planned and it bursts in our face and we look badly, then we’re just playing with fear, and we’re not going to play with fear.

Ottavino joins a Red Sox enclosure that includes Barnes, Darwinzon Hernandez, Josh Taylor, Ryan Brasier, and possibly Matt Andriese, depending on the role he’s moved to.

The 23-year-old German, from Queens, New York, is 5-8 with an average of 3.56 in 30 games (23 starts) in the minor leagues. The Yankees selected him in the fourth round of the 2018 MLB Draft.

“It’s an interesting prospect,” Bloom said. “I know this organization has had an eye on him since he was in the draft, I remember talking about him in our draft room when I was with the Rays and he was in North Florida as kind of a guys pop up this spring. He’s a power arm with a really good fastball that has a good bike, a good life. The secondaries arrive. Fastpitch is definitely the staple right now, but it’s a good place to start.