Yankees and Ottavino Agree to Deal, Solidify Top Bullpen in Baseball Yet Again
First reported by Robert Murray of The Athletic, the news has now officially been released (and corrected) that the Yankees have agreed to a deal with former of the Colorado Rockies pitcher Adam Ottavino.
Murray first reported that the deal was expected to be for 3-Years and $25 Million; but corrections from ESPN’s Jeff Passan have correctly labelled the deal as 3-Years and $27 Million.
This is the 2nd major free agent bullpen move the Yankees have made this winter, in addition with bringing back free agent Zach Britton earlier this month.
The Yankees have now truly recreated yet another powerful bullpen, as has been their biggest strength since the original moves to acquire Aroldis Chapman to join Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances before the 2016 season.
#Yankees closing on free-agent reliever Adam Ottavino, sources tell me and @Ken_Rosenthal. Agreement, if completed, expected to be in the three-year, $25 million range. — Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) January 17, 2019
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Adam Ottavino’s deal with the New York Yankees is for three years and $27 million, league sources tell ESPN. — Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 17, 2019
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First with the agreement: @JeffPassan. First with the money: @JonHeyman. And first with the news that this was happening: My man @ByRobertMurray. https://t.co/iVDMSuYBwJ — Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 17, 2019
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As Ken Rosenthal tweeted above, it seems as though this news went through the major baseball writers gauntlet with each person discovering another piece of the puzzle, ending in the ultimate official announcement about the Yankees deal with relief RHP Adam Ottavino.
Unlike the Zach Britton contract that was announced earlier this month on January 5th, it seems as though this 3-Year, $27 Million deal is straight forward (i.e. Ottavino will get paid $9 Million per year) has no team/player/mutual options with the necessity for crazy “contract trees” to simply understand.
The Statistics:
Adam Ottavino had his best year in the majors last year based on almost every statistic, while with the Colorado Rockies, pitching to a 2.6 WAR wiht a 2.43 ERA (193 ERA+) over 77.2 innings pitched. He also had a K/9 of 13.0, a WHIP of 0.991, and an FIP of 2.74.
Each of these stats were career-bests for Ottavino (for each season he pitched over 30 innings), who pitched a majority of his innings in one of the worst ballparks for a pitcher to be in, with Coors Field.
Additionally, Ottavino was also was the top relief pitcher on his previous team his past year, and one can only imagine how much better he’ll play with a solid bullpen core around him.
Joining the Top Bullpen in Baseball:
Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances, Zach Britton, Adam Ottavino, Chad Green, Jonathan Holder. The New York Yankees have assembled a downright frightening bullpen. — Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 17, 2019
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Aroldis Chapman & Dellin Betances & Zach Britton & Adam Ottavino & Chad Green & Tommy Kahnle & Jonathan Holder …struck out 537 total batters in 2018. pic.twitter.com/Ze7Y9JpVUE — YES Network (@YESNetwork) January 17, 2019
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It isn’t a surprise that the Yankees have yet again collected the top bullpen arms for the upcoming season. Looking back to the past three seasons, this has been an absolute strength of the Yankees:
(*Acquired near the July 31st Trade Deadline)
2016 Yankees Bullpen: Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, Dellin Betances (aka: “No Runs DMC”)
2017 Yankees Bullpen: Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances, Chad Green, & David Robertson*, Tommy Kahnle*
2018 Yankees Bullpen: Aroldis Chapman, David Robertson, Dellin Betances, Chad Green, Jonathan Holder; & Zach Britton*
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and now the upcoming 2019 Yankees Bullpen: Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances, Zach Britton, Adam Ottavino, Chad Green, Jonathan Holder.
From here, it is no surprise that the official MLB twitter has even gotten into the action on the Top Bullpen in Baseball (yet again):
Chapman, Betances, Britton and now … Ottavino. 😱 @Yankees, RHP Adam Ottavino agree to 3-year, $27M deal, source tells @Ken_Rosenthal: https://t.co/wzPZdlHf9n pic.twitter.com/VoPse0xCrm — MLB (@MLB) January 17, 2019
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#Bullpen #AndrewMiller #AdamOttavino #AroldisChapman #ChadGreen #DavidRobertson #DellinBetances #ZachBritton
