Jan. 24: The Yankees have formally announced the signing. Ottavino will be paid $8MM annually, tweets Heyman, and he’ll receive a deferred $3MM signing bonus.
Jan. 17, 12:47pm: Fancred’s Jon Heyman tweets that Ottavino will be guaranteed $27MM over the three-year term.
12:42pm :The Yankees have agreed to terms on a contract with free-agent reliever Adam Ottavino, ESPN’s Jeff Passan tweets. Robert Murray and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic had reported seconds prior that the two sides were closing in on an arrangement believed to be worth roughly $25MM over three years (Twitter link). Ottavino is represented by All Bases Covered Sports Management.
Ottavino, a New York native who went to high school in Brooklyn, has been connected to the Yankees since before the offseason even began. His addition comes on the heels of a breakout 2018 season with the Rockies in which the 33-year-old righty pitched to a 2.43 ERA with 13.0 K/9, 4.2 BB/9, 0.58 HR/9 and a 43 percent ground-ball rate in 77 2/3 innings of relief.
Ottavino joins an already loaded New York relief corps that features Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances, Chad Green and fellow offseason signee Zach Britton. That group is impressive on its own, before even considering 25-year-old righty Jonathan Holder, who may not yet be a household name but has nevertheless emerged as a quality reliever in his own right. Certainly, no bullpen is ever a sure thing to produce, given the year-over-year volatility of relief pitchers, but in terms of sheer talent and upside, there’s arguably no better collection of bullpen arms in baseball right now.
It should be noted that while Ottavino had a career year in 2018, the two prior seasons garnered more mixed results. Ottavino underwent Tommy John surgery in May 2015 and missed the majority of that season as well as a notable chunk of the 2016 campaign. When he returned in July 2016, he was nothing short of excellent, pitching to a 2.67 ERA with a 35-to-7 K/BB ratio and a preposterous 61.9 percent grounder rate in 27 innings.
The 2017 season, however, was brutal for Ottavino, as he averaged 6.6 walks and 1.35 homers per nine innings pitched en route to a 5.06 ERA. Coming off that campaign, few would’ve believed that the righty would put himself in position to score this type of three-year deal on the open market, but his remarkable bounceback effort was an eye-opener. Ottavino’s 12.1 percent swinging-strike rate isn’t commensurate with the whiff rate you’d expect for someone averaging 13 punchouts per nine innings, and his 26.1 percent opponents’ chase rate on out-of-zone pitches is well below the league average for a reliever. Nonetheless, today’s agreement serves as evidence that the Yankees are convinced of his ability to at least approach his 2018 output as he enters his mid-30s.
In effect, Ottavino will be replacing right-hander David Robertson, who signed with the Phillies on a two-year deal worth a guaranteed $23MM a couple of weeks back. Britton, the team’s other marquee addition, had already finished out the season in manager Aaron Boone’s bullpen following a deadline trade with the Orioles. In that sense, then, one could argue that the bullpen hasn’t definitively improved. Of course, improving on a relief corps that posted the game’s fourth-best ERA (3.38) and the game’s highest strikeout percentage (30.2 percent) is no small feat. At the very least, swapping out Robertson for Ottavino will ensure that the Yankees’ bullpen should maintain its already elite status, even if one or two of the team’s top relievers take a step back in ’19.
The recent additions of Ottavino and DJ LeMahieu, former Rockies teammates now reunited in the Bronx, have added $21MM worth of luxury tax hits to the Yankees’ ledger. That should put them firmly above the $206MM cutoff even if they’re successfully able to find a taker for Sonny Gray and his $7.5MM salary. As Jason Martinez outlines at Roster Resource, the Yankees’ luxury tax payroll currently projects to just north of $224MM, while their actual in-season 2019 payroll — assuming an even $9MM per year breakdown of Ottavino’s deal — currently rests around $209.5MM.
However, the Yankees dipped south of the luxury tax line last season, which reset them back into the lowest penalty bracket. As such, they’ll be faced with a relatively tame penalty — a 12 percent overage tax on every dollar north of the $206MM cutoff point.
The three-year, $27MM value of Ottavino’s contract is likely a bitter pill for the Rockies to swallow, as Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post observes (Twitter link). The Rox handed out a pair of three-year deals worth that exact amount when signing Bryan Shaw and Jake McGee an offseason ago, both of whom struggled through awful seasons in year one of those contracts. That pair of signings, however, combined with the $52MM pact given to Wade Davis, surely restricted the Rockies’ ability to make an earnest effort to re-sign Ottavino this winter.
Generally, though, Ottavino’s contract falls well within range of what was reasonably expected heading into the offseason. We at MLBTR ranked him 21st on our annual ranking of the game’s Top 50 free agents, predicting that he’d secure a three-year, $30MM pact with the Yankees.
That’s a dynamite bullpen
No doubt!! I’ve been looking forward to getting him! Good job Cash!!
wow me too, yippie
last year for Betances. he will want a mint as a free agent, so Cashman is preparing..
Keep going Cash.
Not that many teams can afford to pay 9 mil a year for a middle reliever or set-up guy. But it’s definitely a nice acquisition for the Yanks.
Question of the day:
Do you think the Yankee Brass will allow Ottavino to where is number 0
edit
Wear. oops
He’s gonna strike out Babe Ruth every time, right? Waiting for a Trout to crush a 3-run shot against Ottavino, especially if it’s in Yankee.
Does your blog say that?
I’m just reporting what he said himself.
And, yes … I’ve posted a couple of blog links. So sue me. None of them were about the Yankees, (Not recently.)
Have you seen the video of Ruth and Gerhig taking batting practice, They were moving their feet like beer league softball players. It’s a totally different game today which is what Ottavino was saying!
@slider32
Did you see the pitches that were being thrown to them. There were probably about 2 pitches in the whole bit of tape that were worth having a cut at. The rest of the pitches were let go or not worth swinging at.
Furthermore, some batters have their own unique style so I don’t think it affected Ruth or Gehrig. Have you looked at e.g. Rod Carew, Moises Alou, Willie Stargell, Julio Franco, or what about Tony Batista. There are no conventions on batting styles, see the ball, hit the ball somewhere hard.
tells us how you really feel ….Dope
This guy spams his blog all the time, and that is why I posted that. Big time troll.
no worries, we all know who the bad seeds are, OR WERE!!
lol
You some kinda guru, or just trying to start something?
Wtf are you going on about, I was replying to someone. If you’re gonna troll do it to someone else.
Steve, I was defending you silly, you took my post out of
context.
Sorry you read it wrong..
You were talking about trolls and spam, and I agreed with you.
You by sending me this post is starting something!!
For Boc
Super bullpen
Almost certainly closes the book on Machado to the Yankees now.
No money for Harper now.
One word – DAMN!
Colorado did the whole A.L a favor by never even considering resigning this liability. His entire career is based upon a starter doing a much better job day in and day out , while he never has to worry about knotching a save because a real closer is waiting to exit the Bullpen. Good luck under the heavy pressure lights of Yankees stadium.
Awesome!!!!!
Not Robertson? Will be interesting to see how his stuff translates to the American League East.
Robertson signed with the Phillies like 2 weeks ago…
My bad.
Think point was Robertson, Andrew Miller, already NYY signed Britton got a little less and are probably better and have track records. As far as talent goes.. think Kelly a better bet as well with his 3/25m deal at LA.
As usual RedSox homer shtick from this guy.
Personally, I can’t believe Kelly got 3 guaranteed years. Sure he’s got good stuff but LA saw him at his best. He’s inconsistent and I doubt he can keep that dominance up for a whole season, let alone 3.
Kelly can be infuriating when he falls in love with his secondaries and by that? i mean all of them. IMO he needs to scrap them all, except his curveball, which is really good and go with the upper 90’s FB/curve combo. he always ran into those long funks when he started getting change/slider happy and got away from his FB too often.
Another thing. it’s not just LA that saw him at his best, but the post season as well. Look over his numbers since arriving with Boston in October.. -0- walks in 16 post season innings and just the single ER. He excelled for them when it counted.. i doubt that slipped by many teams this winter, tho am pretty sure most fans had no clue and that includes his numerous detractors.
Robertson already signed with the Phillies i think.
We keep saying “The Al East” as if it’s still the amazing beast. It’s not. if he’s a Yankee then the only variables he really has to worry about are Yankee Stadium and the Red Sox. The rest are barely average or average at best (Rays and Jays) to well below average (O’s). I would say NY and the stadium are his biggest concerns,
Sounds fair. He’s from New York, right?
Yes and grew up a Yankee fan
Graduated from Berkeley-Carroll, a private school in Park Slope.
That’s a pretty good deal. And pretty damn good pen
Best bullpen in history?
Have you all lost your minds? The best bullpen was the As, during Tony Larissa.
Until they faced the real best bullpen. The Nasty Boys.
The Sox pen last year in the playoffs was as good as any. Kimbrel was the weak link!
How could it have been “as good as any” with a weak link?
It couldn’t, that’s how.
Good enough for a championship.
oh come on.
i think the yankees bullpen, …in today’s game, can be the most dominant ever. 4 potential closers plus the depth?
Last year after the break they had Chapman, Betances, Robertson, Britton, Holder, and Green. I’d say this is pretty much a push. Though one could argue Holder and Green may even improve.
Yeah, we heard that last year too…and the Yanks didn’t get out of the first round.
Dunno that Green will be as dominant as he was in 2017
Only 1 team gets to win a championship, McMillan, what’s your point?
Are Angels fans allowed to call Trout the best player, or will you say “so, he was last year too, they didn’t even make the postseason.”
Now get going, your bus is leaving.
Bravo!!
Yup, I think a certain team in Houston had the best bullpen.
I really think Tarpley will become an asset this year
Robertson wasn’t all that good and Britton was still trying to return to form the 1st part of the season. A fully healthy Britton trumps last years Britton. Ottavino (who pitched half his games in Coors field which is supposed to be death for pitchers) is on paper a clear upgrade over Robertson. Holder will be one year more in the experience department. And they still have Kahnle who probably can’t be any worse than he was in 2018 (reports are that he’s been resting his arm and is geared towards being closer to the 2017 version than the 2018 version).
Yep. Mike Trout is the poster child of why it makes no sense for people to say “player X isn’t good cause he never led his team to anything’.
But he IS the poster child to say “Paying the greatest player today the highest contract ever will not nearly guarantee you ANYTHING unless you can put several complimentary to all-star level players alongside him”. The Angles have some bad contracts but they also have some talented players. As great as Trout has been the last 4 years his team has failed to be the best team in their own division. That by no means is his fault but it shows that in baseball, one player, even the best, has a limited impact on his team winning 90-95 games. His market will be limited to teams that can afford him and can surround him with enough talent to make his presence valuable beyond
The fact that Trout will be seeking the highest paid player ever limits his market to maybe 5-8 teams? How many of those teams can surround him that supporting case to be an elite team because face it, signing him to be an 85-90 win team is a loss.
No need to shart on Robo. He WAS that good last year. He’s moved on and that’s ok. No need to trash him now.
It pretty much is a push except this year they got the group for the entire season NOT just the last 2 months like in 2018. In 2018 the Yankees opened the season with a bullpen of: Chapman, Betances, Robertson, Green, Holder, Kahnle, Warren, Shreve. No where near as good as what will be their 2019 OD Bullpen.
Your right….LaRissa is a great Manager….Dope
No because Britton is fading but pretty great nonetheless
No way! AO won’t replicate his career year
Agreed. Yankees are buying high on this guy. Fortunately with their bullpen depth they don’t need him to dominate anyway.
02 Braves, 03 Dodgers, 90 Reds & A’s…. They have some names, but lets see how they actually produce before putting them up with the likes of the best pens in history.
How about the 2015 Kansas city royals? With out that bull pen they do not win that world series championship .
If they had the Yankees offense they likely would have.
How about 1996 Yankees, Loyd, Nelson, Stanton, Mendoza, Rivera, Wetteland… Rivera alone could have counted as two relievers….
Sorry too many people arrested for sex crimes in there.
Ummm….what did the 02 Braves and 03 Dodgers accomplish exactly?
Tough to compare today’s bullpens with those of even a few years ago, until recently nobody would have ever considered paying any kind of money for a guy to lock down the 7th inning, never mind the 6th.
Cashman is making the Yankees unfair at this point
They have the mega bucks so why are you surprised?
Not until he gets Harper and/or Machado. They aren’t that much better since they last faced Boston.
The biggest difference between Yanks and Red Sox last season was the starting rotation. The Yankees are significantly better in the rotation, while the Sox are (currently) much weaker in the bullpen.
I think the gap between them is slim, I think on paper they are VERY close. But the Sox are, obviously, the team to beat even if the Yankees got Machado.
They don’t play on paper though! I will admit Boston / New York rivalry good for baseball and I don’t root for either team.
Also, I want to clarify I meant that the Yanks have a better rotation than last season, not better than the Red Sox.
Agreed, but the biggest difference is the Sox can’t bank on everyone having the career years they did last year, or the Yanks expect to face the injuries and down years most of their players had.
As today, yes they are and the Sox are no better than they were last year and depending on how the + Eovaldi – Kimbrel and Kelly plays out they might even be worse than last year.
YIKES
Yankees are one of the only teams thats really raising payroll this offseason but the cheap Hal narrative continues
I’d say smart Hal. Why waste money where it’s not needed? Hal went all in for 2009 when it made sense. Right now, they’re adding key pieces that make sense.
When Wildcard Hal starts contributing a higher percentage of the Yankees revenue to the payroll I’ll quit calling him a cheapskate. His father put 95% of the revenue back into the team. Hal puts maybe 35% back into the team.
I can’t remember where I read it so I can’t provide a link but within the last two/three weeks I read George’s all-time high payroll to revenue was 52%. For whatever that’s worth.
Dude you are clearly pulling numbers out your a**. There’s no disclosure of the books for most of the Steinbrenner era so how can you make such claims? The Yanks have probably had the highest payroll each year under Hal’s reign. No way you can accuse of him being cheap. He JUST acquired the highest contract in baseball history last year when he traded for Stanton. How is that being cheap???? Clearly, the Yanks are trying to use analytics and future valuations to cut down on payroll inefficiencies. Do they HAVE to do that to win? No. Does it maker for better stewardship of an organization and allow them to pounce on opportunity down the road, absolutely. Sometimes that might mean saying no to short term wins and long term losses. As fans we want them to have all the best players. In reality, you try and have a balance of FA splurges, good scouting and great draft/trade decisions.
That bullpen will get steady work everyday after inning number 5
Yup. It lead to 100 wins last year with the same strategy, except this time six solid relievers from Opening Day and not August.
except last years rotation was much worse to start the season.
So what? Yankees starters were 18th in baseball last year in IP and they won 100 games. Ranked one spot ahead of them at 17th was the world champion Boston Red Sox.
Interesting stat..!
Here’s an even more interesting one
Most innings by SP – Cleveland – 91 wins
Fewest innings by SP – Tampa Bay – 90 wins
Since the rays strategy was “the opener”, they should not be included as part of the “fewest innings by SP” stat… what was the second highest and the second lowest and corresponding wins? Hell, it may be another 90 win team, the As.
“the opener” is his point. The growing idea is that quality innings are quality innings and it matters not who they come from. As a traditionalist, I prefer the days of the horses. The guys who give you 200 IP a year but it’s clear that while that horse has turned more into a hard to find unicorn the absence of one is attempting to be mitigated by the strategy of “bull penning”. In fact, the Red Sox bullpen pitched more innings that their pen did last WS.
Agreed. Times are changing. Since KC won the series with a dominant pen, teams are loading up the back end. The Yanks can carry a 5 inning guy like Sabathia without worrying.
I think Cashman and the Yankees are just being opportunistic. If there were actually top end starters (instead of top end relievers) on the market they probably would have gone that route. But other than Corbin (and the kinda crazy contract that the Nationals gave him) there just isn’t the same comparative level starters in free agency as there is relievers.
is that supposed to be an insult? have you not seen how pitching roles have changed recently?
That’s fine in the postseason, but burn out your bullpen every day and you may not even make it into the playoffs.
Was waiting for this. Total Dynamic bullpen!
Great – powerful relief pitching on board – need that Gray replacement starter!
The good thing is that there are still a lot of absolute back end of the rotation veteran starters available in free agency. Drew Pomeranz, Edwin Jackson, Clay Buchholz, Brett Anderson, Jeremy Hellickson, Franciso Liriano are all guys that have had success in the majors especially pitching in the AL in the past. So they should be definitely doable as a 5th/6th starter type that can probably be had for a 1 year deal for relatively little money ($3 to $8 million range at most).
Seems like a home town discount, I figured he’d get around 10-11 mil per year.
he is making 12.5 a year..
How does 27m over 3 years equal 12.5 a year?
Because math is hard.
Alternative facts.
Plausible deniability.
They didn’t teach you basic math in school?
Hey Mets fan here……… But gotta say I can see Yankees playing a lot games this up and coming season that are reduced to 6 inning ball games when Yanks have the lead…….. Tip of the hat to Mr. Cashman .
That’s Scott Steiner math
There’s a 66 2/3% chance that it is.
????? 9 a year or so
1996…our future looks like your math skills.
yeah way less than britton, and ottavino is probably better, maybe there was a discount taken, we dont know what the texas rangers were offering though
That Otta get things moving again
Ha. I see what you did there.
Going to miss him. Loved watching him with the Rockies. Wish you all the best with the Yankees, otto
Good pick up and more dept to an already solid bullpen.
Good Sport you are, thank you Slip
seems about right price wise. I mean should get more than Tommy Hunter, Brandon Morrow but today’s landscape means taking less.
Dodgers got Kelly for roughly the same amount of money. Not a bad signing at all.
Intresting to see who will be the better investment. The 100+ fastball or frisbee slider.
These guys sound good on paper but the season yet to play out.
On paper only? Chapman, Britton, Green, Betances, now Ottavino. Hands down the best bullpen in baseball.
Yes, they are smart.
“The season has yet to play out”? You can literally say that about any move in the offseason. Yes, we know, you still have to play the games.
I agree with this in principle, but would note that bullpen arms are notoriously fickle.
Put it this way- if I told you that either the Yankees offense or the bullpen was going to be mediocre this season and you had to guess which one, the smart money would be betting against the bullpen.
Just about every relief pitcher they have, aside from Holder, has been among the top 30 relief arms for the last 3 years. It’s not as if they haven’t proven themselves.
That’s a really solid addition for the Yankees. That dude had 2.45 era or something like that and he pitched in Colorado which in my opinion says a lot. That’s not a pitcher friendly park at all lol
this guy is Anthony Swarzak, will regret signing
Yankee hater yes, but this guy pitched in a park that’s hitter friendly with a 2.45 ERA over 70 innings. I am having a hard time with you broad comment.
I am a Yankee fan who likes the signing, but still has concerns. He had one good season. I understand the why– he reinvented his mechanics and pitch selection– but one good season and years of mediocrity still make me nervous.
One good season? Go look at the numbers again. 2013-2016 he was one of the most under appreciated bullpen arms in the league. FIP at or below 3.15 every season, one season over a 3 ERA, HR/9 only reached 1 one season despite pitching in Coors, and a WAR over 1 ever year except his injury shortened year. In the last 5 he’s actually only had one bad year and that was 2017.
Have a drink, this team will win 100 games with or without him. They are loaded for bear.
Also pitched to a 5.06 ERA and 1.6 WHIP in that same park in 2017
Mikey stated that 2017 WAS his 1 & ONLY bad season over the past 5 years. So, you just underscored what he was ALREADY SAYING.
I posted the comment before his. Calm down
Good stats last year, but shaky record before that. Lets hope his contract year wasnt a aberration. That said, the Yankees could use another SP and call it wraps on the offseason. Keuchel?
D I T T O
Of course they did.
Awesome pickup.. picking up many ex Rockies lol
pirates used to be the yankees AAAA team. now its the rockies
Yup. Cash is done. The team is set. LMAO.
More to come. Watch. That is what Cash does.
Now they should cap off the offseason and get Granderson as a power left handed bench bat. Would be quite a tool come postseason time. Could also be insurance in case Frazier cants stay healthy as the 5th outfielder/part time DH. Other than that, they’re set.
Nobody said they were done we knew they were adding a reliever
There were many Yankee fans particularly who though Cashman was done. Tons of Yankee fans writing “articles” about how “Cashman hasn’t done enough” or that “this team is no better than 2018” (when even without AO they are demonstrably better on paper than opening day 2018).
Best bullpen ever was the nasty boys
Dibble
Charlton
Myers
OMG!!!! Cash is a genius!!
This is what some of you people actually sound like.
Cash is no genius. Yankees are always looking for an Ace. Cash whiffed on Scherzer, Sale and Verlander. Cash has won exactly one title since 2000. Can you imagine that…with the Yankees over the salary cap until recently. He should have been fired long ago.
The Yanks have certainly made some nice additions. You have to get to the bullpen though. Rotation still seems to be a little lacking. Should be a fun team to watch but annoying from a Mets fans perspective. Ottavino sure would have been a nice piece for the Mets and the contract he got seems quite reasonable.
i’m glad the mets steered clear of this one i would rather give allen or holland a 1 year prove it deal
… someone wake up Dombrowski.
This puts more pressure on DD to make a move for Kimbrel or another bullpen arm without question.
Agreed, Reaper, Dombrowski is boxing himself in. I can only assume he’s waiting out Kimbrel, or maybe he’s got a path toward trading JBJ for an arm. Odd silence out of Boston.
DD doesn’t have to do anything. He’s coming off a world championship. He’s got the luxury of being able to sit on his hands. I wouldn’t mind if the Red Sox just went for 2 guys like Cody Allen and Greg Holland. Both would be very inexpensive. It seems like Kimbrel is going to fall into their lap eventually but if someone like the Braves seriously gets in on him I wouldn’t mind the other route.
That’s one crazy good pen. Also sets Adam up in his hometown with easy access to the MLB Network studio, where he will ultimately end up at full time once he hangs up the spikes. He has a big future on the network and pretty good future in the short term in the Bronx.
Lary: Ya, he’s perfect for MLB network. Very polished. Loved the day he publicly thanked Dan O’Dowd on the set for adding him when he was DFA floating.
That’s where I got to admire O’Dowd too, who admitted it wasn’t even his idea; they had an open spot on the 40-man, and O’Dowd’s Scouting Director liked the “O” man…..something like “I didn’t know a lot about you, but the SD thought it was a good idea. I wish I could take some credit for it.”
And it’s a good move for the Spanks. Guess the Sox will have to pay some attention in July now…………(ducks from chairs being thrown)
Nice move NYY.
I wonder if the Angels even knew this guy was a FA?
They didn’t know about a lot of free agents. Keuchel, Grandal, Ramos, Happ, Morton, Familia, Kimbrel, Britton… they thought it was just Harvey, Lucroy and Cahill!
Wow, I wish my team would have done that. Britton, Chapman, and Ottavino gives the Yanks more closing depth than any team has had in a very long time, maybe ever. Combine this with an above average starting rotation and a great lineup, they should win even more games this year. Not sure if they are the favorites yet, but if they trade some of that infield depth for another strong top of the rotation starter, that would put them over the top.
This is a case of the “Rich getting Richer!”
Crazy pen. Best in the league by far right now. Look out for a trade now. I really think 1B is about to get upgraded. Possibly Martínez from the Cards.
Why not see what Voit can do? Seems silly to NOT give a guy a shot considering the possible upside and 5 years of control.
Well at least the Yankees want to win next season. I’m not sure about any other team.
The Giants signed the guy who worked with him in Seattle, in the off-season. . . To the front office… Great success for Adam hopefully translates into great success for the Giants. ! ! ! Good Job !
Nice … Very Nice
Now they’ve gone through their checklist. Rotation, Bullpen, Didi coverage.
The cost of all of that is known …. and it wasn’t all that much.
Now watch …. They’ll get Harper now too
It doesn’t look like Cashman is bidding on either Macado or Harper. Not sure he’s bidding on anyone else, but if there’s a 40 man roster move that needs to be made, something else might be turning on the trade front
Great move
They had to with the mediocre starters they have
I love all the great pieces Cashman is putting together since not going after Machado and sure, Manny is great, but I personally do not like putting my eggs in one basket. Yankees won’t do that again, not even for 6 years.
If Cashman had Mulligan, I DON’T think
Stanton would be there!
They got him for nothing, I think they are very happy with him.
yes, lol, I know he was a freeby.
What’s with the Stanton hate in New York? Overall, it was a good season for him.
these yankee fans baffle me, don’t get me wrong the guy had an amazing year last year but before that he was just an average middle reliever his fip was over 5 in 2017 i would have never gone three years with this guy
Three years 27 million is not exactly a huge risk. He was predicted to sign a 3 year 30 million dollar contract so Yanks seem to have done good in the signing, When your bidding against other teams and you want the player you go the extra year and for an extra 9 mill not a big risk
Holy cow that bullpen is lights out! Nice pick up for the Yanks. Ottavino is one of those guys who looks at his sabermetrics and tweaks mechanics constantly. Read something about it on Fangraphs.
We added James Paxton, Re-signed CC, Happ, Britton and signed Ottavino, Tulo, and DJ. Now we have the best bull, infield depth and 5 starters. But some Yankees fans are dissatisfied because of Machado. AKA Pinstripes Alley. Yet, we were able to invest in the entire team and prepare for salary increase from our core. What else is there to do? I love Machado but he is way too risky with the money attached. Big contracts example, Hosmer, Kemp, A-rod, Ellsbury, A.J Burnett, Pablo Sandoval, and more. Boston Red Sox play with J.D. makes much more sense. I understand that he is a very good hitter and his attitude is not that big of a deal. However just because you have crazy money doesn’t mean you should buy a the most expensive car not able to afford has to fill it up. lol I know weird analogy but you get it!
Who cares what Pinstripe Alley thinks? It’s some beer bellied schlub with Dorito crumbs all over his shirt typing up an incoherent blog in a basement probably somewhere in NJ.
Hopefully this guy isn’t a one-hit wonder. Not a fan of this signing, but only time will tell.
Agreed, I don’t like it either
His stuff will translate just fine to the American League East. The guy had a 2.43 earned run average in Coors field with 0.53 homeruns per nine innings in a field that is nicknamed homer field..
No way the Braves aren’t low key going after Kimbrel right?
3 years at $8 mil per is neither a long contract or a costly one especially when your bullpen was as bad as the Braves and Vizcaino exiting after next year on top of it.
There’s no way they pass getting involved on this unless they have some other end game… right?
MJ who is 3 years at 8 mill and what does any of this have to do with Kimbrel.I hope you don’t think thats what will get Kimbrel to the Braves. He’s gonna get at least 15 mill a year if not more only question is length of contract
hopefully he is not a one year wonder like Kahnle types……
However, cash loads up on the pen in the absence of a good rotation. too many here have faith in CC ( who is cooked), happ (who will deteriorate into the #5 sP that he is) and the consistency of Tanaka ( he of the 156 IP last year).
So the pen is awesome/loaded and I am not opposed to this move just feel strongly that having a legit starter and a great pen is the key to October. Not just a great pen
Tanaka was fine in the playoffs, when you needed him. Paxton and Severino are the big question marks. But I’d rather have those two than not. Honestly, where are the pitchers YOU KNOW you can count on in the playoffs?
Kluber is 33 and suspect at best, Kuechel is regressing, and then who….Bumgarner, who regressed and pitches in one of the best pitchers parks out there? Who else is a signable or tradable asset you KNOW they should have gotten?
verlander sale and cole. other than that no one.
BTW if he had traded for either of the first two they would have been in the WS at least once the past 2 years….All three of the above are better than anyone in pinstripes right now..
But you are right. They haven’t passed up on anyone.
Cash- deserves no free pass considering the organization brings in 700 million and only for shame can spend about 225 mil…..
i am a die hard Yankee fan and grew up in the Bronx a stone’s throw from the stadium. But I call it the way I see it. Cash is not the genius people think he is.
Maybe people like Cashman as a GM because he got Hicks and Didi for nothing Torres for a rental of Chapman. who is now back with the team Just saying
Klubers stats in the playoffs are horrid with a near ten ERA OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS
no pitcher in baseball is worse in october
good signing
bauer would be better but is a nut case
Bauer said he wants to go year to year on contracts to Max his value. Yeah, not touching that.
So you’re giving me examples of the past two years? So you would have done Andujar plus others for Cole?
Verlander was at the end until Houston “fixed” him. You would have needed to be a fortune teller to predict his rise from the ashes.
Monday morning quarterbacking moves is not the way to judge. AT THE TIME not many fans would have gotten a middle aged Verlander or a Cole on a down year for a top 100 protect at a position we needed to fill.
yes i would have given up andujar for cole plus a year ago. then this year signed manny. Manny +cole is great than miggy.
2. The yanks gave up 3 top 100 guys for gray. Certainly Cash the wise’s scouting could have seen what houston saw and given up 1 for verlander but no he did not.
3. great pitching beats all else. Cash has simply failed
1, They would have no payroll flexibility with both Machado and Stanton with long term high dollar contracts. Need money to sign Judge and company and would rather save the money for Arenado or Trout.
2. The yankes gave up 3 top 100 guys in all of MLB? No, they didn’t! And the prospects were trash. One needed tommy john, one shredded his knee, and the other was an unkown..
3. Cash hasn’t failed. I guess they should have traded for Eovaldi last trade deadline too seeing he is t he ONLY reason the Red Sox won it all, and getting him effectively would have blocked them.
in regard to # 1- the yanks brought in 750 million last year and spend less of a percentage of their revenue on payroll now than ANYONE including the rays. So stop with the payroll flexibility nonsense. They can spend 400 million, pay the tax and still net nearly a quarter of a billion dollars
2. kap, fowler and mateo were all ranked in the top 100 prospects at the time of the trade. they may be trash but they were assets at the time and had more value than sonny gray. It was a better package than houston gave up for cole. except cole is good.
3. You are blind. Yankee pitchers were bombed by boston period. Happ and CC were trash. Tanaka was fine as you suggest but even seve continued his late season swoon. Cash has failed to acquired quality SP and a top flight #1 guy. That is the onlt reason why the bullpen is overpaid and loaded and the only reason why we have watched Houston led by verlander and the sox led by sale beat us. BTW barring a change in either the rotation or a tremendous leap forward by seve or another it will happen again.
Look for a trade coming for an upgrade at 1B. They can trade a couple young pen arms and some surplus OF to get a guy like Martínez from the Cards. Or maybe Castellanos from Detroit to play 1B. (Purely speculation) but 1B is the only real weakness right now. Counting on Voit or Bird doesn’t give me much confidence
They should just move Andujar to first base.
I think Martinez is a solid fit, especially since he can play corner OF in a pinch.
They’re fine at first with two guys that could be great at the position. The team is set in my eyes.
Martinez can play corner OF in a pinch about as well as CC could. He is BRUTAL defensively in the OF and has zero range. He’s not really much of an asset at 1B either. there’s a reason StL is potentially moving on from him.
Martinez and Castellanos are possibly the two worst fielders in the trade market. The Yankees already have poor fielders all over the infield.
Where are the Yankees fans and media saying they are being cheap by not signing two players they don’t need….. while signing two lock down relievers and trading for a #2 starter?
Team isn’t cheap, just know that pitching got them bounced last year, not offense.
Truth. Good post.
Lol. A couple of weeks ago there were quite a few Yankees fans talking bad about Ottavino. Now he completes the greatest BP ever. I will say there was at least one Yankees fan that I seen comment who doesn’t care for the signing.
Btw, I personally like the signing and their BP will be awesome.
This is what happens to an MLB player that never gives up and continually works to improve his game, regardless of age. Late bloomers are great stories for the game. This guy has shown flashes of putting it together throughout his career, and finally did so in 2018.
My only concern is his heavy workload last season, however, I don’t see him approaching a 77ip season again. I think he’ll see more like 55-60, which tends to curb volatility for a large majority of RP’s.
I’m happy with this signing. Welcome back home AO!
He embraced analytics and worked on spin rate etc etc, thus his dominance at age 33. He’s had a Verlander-esque rise, although Adam never got near as good as Justin prior to his reemergence.
So Robertson was making 12 and now Ottavino makes 9. That’s a win, at least on the books. Interesting that their big $ reliever contracts all expire after 2021. 40 million between the 3. Right when Judge, Sanchez, & Severino are about to enter FA. Well done!
Must be nice, to be able to buy a chance for a championship. Enjoy paying those extreme ticket prices.
Ticket prices aren’t based off of salary. It’s supply and demand.
Enjoy paying more than most, then.
just come to one game there. Its awesome even if a bud light is 13 bucks. First one is my treat
yes yes yes …. bring on the hate!
The more they hate us the better I like this team
sufferfortribe
the indians just got 100M from the Streaming Rights sale and BamTech sale, just like every other team
its not the Yankees fault that the Dolans pocket the money .
they Also own Cablevision/optimum online, so they are the last people to be crying poormouth….if they dont want to spend, sell the indians
cheap is cheap
the Dolans are much much mch richer than the Steinbrenners all you need to do is read Forbes
I agree that the owners of any team crying poor is a bunch of BS, but the Indians owner Larry Dolan is Cablevision’s founder Charles Dolan’s brother. I don’t believe Larry and his kids are really involved in all the Cablevision/MSG businesses.
Finally, someone else besides me knows this.
“Must be nice, to be able to buy a chance for a championship.“
Yes, sufferfortribe,
Ottavino will lead us to the promised land.
Extreme ticket prices? Lol
They are commensurate with the area and what their fans make.
You do realize people in new your make more than people in cleveland right?
Not our fault your owners are filthy cheapskates
So the Yankees have 5 guys who could be closers on a normal team? Wowsers!
Impressive, only team that might challenge them for top bullpen is Milwaukee behind their 3 all-stars and young core.
Potential lethal bullpen for sure, but I’m not sold on Ottavino. He’s had one good season and he’s 33. This move reminds me of the type of moves that were made in the past like Kyle Farnsworth, a guy coming off one good season and then not preforming or Pedro Feliciano who never even pitched. Wouldn’t surprise me if Ottavino doesn’t finish this contract in the NY pen
Would’ve rather had Robertson
Again, go back and look at his numbers from 2013-2016 and tell me again that he’s only had 1 good season. 2017 was not good, but that doesn’t mean 2018 was a fluke, the 17 season is the outlier.
Awesome,I think Yankee’s are done,with the exception of trading Gray.
Looks like they will restock the minors with young arms and trade Gray, Holder, and Kahnle..I would look to the Padres for pitchers like Logan Allen and Chris Paddack.
You won’t get either pitcher for Gray unless AJ Preller is dumber than a box of rocks.
He is pretty dumb
Great googledy-moogledy! I got one right!
Soon to follow…Yankees sign Machado, Harper and Pollock. Soon to follow they trade for Trout. Cash(man) is king. No wonder baseball is losing it’s thunder
I have a question Christy. Given that the Bosox have a much higher payroll than the Yankees and last year a number teams had higher payrolls then the Yankees why do you continue the baseless lie that the Yanks sign everyone.It seems Yankee haters like to say the Yanks sign everyone and then when they don’t sign someone like Corbin or Machado or Harper they make fun of the Yankees for not spending money to sign them
Oddly enough his home/away splits are reversed from what one would think. He was better at Coors last year and career.
Get to the playoffs, then let the bullpen take over. If we have learned anything that last few years, that’s how you win playoff games.
Ottavino is an upgrade from Robertson. Yanks looks pretty loaded. If they signed machado, they would have to be the prohibitive favorite in the AL, if they aren’t already.
So the Cubs did not want this guy? That contract was very doable. Hell, trade Quintana and put Montgomery back in the rotation and there was the money they needed. I read an interview that Ricketts gave this morning concerning the team’s quiet off-season. He actually said, “We look at our lineup and we say. who would you switch out? We have a pretty good team”. He sounded convinced that the team under-performed last season and that they don’t need a thing. I somewhat see his point, but there are glaring weaknesses in CF, RF, and 2B. He also sounded like Russell wasn’t going anywhere, so I am sure everyone is going to love that…As much as things went wrong last year, they have to go almost perfectly to even hope to contend. Darvish and Hamels must pitch up to their value. Happ has to breakout and earn the every day starting role of either 2B or CF. Bryant, Contreras, and Schwarber must have stronger years than last year. Even if all that happens, they STILL need a closer, so this is just mystifying that they weren’t in on Britton or Ottavino. As of now, they are starting the seaon with no answer for late inning relief. Even when rarely healthy, Morrow makes a much better set-up man. Also, stop platooning Schwarber and pulling him late for “defense”! Poor power splits vs. lefties or not, he still gets on base at a great clip and is always one swing away from changing a game. He made 1 error all of last season and had 11 assists but Maddon still acts like he is a liability. There were so many close or extra inning games last year that he got pulled and wound up losing by one run, including at the end of the season where he hardly saw any at bats which was just stupid.
Well hold on to your butt, because it’s only going to get worse with the Cubs. They’ve been a top 5 team since 2015, but some of their young players haven’t progressed, and the organization has chosen to remain static. They should have traded Schwarber, Russell and Almora last year. Heyward should have been donated to charity, and Darvish’s contract should have been voided altogether.
3 headed monster
More like 5 headed monster (Chapman/Betances/Britton/Greene/Ottavino
I have mixed feelings about this. Earlier this off season I stated that ottavino has the potential to be one of the worst signings this off season and I stand by that but man that ASV is really good !!!!!!!! If he even comes close to replicating last season the best pen in mlb got even better and if he disappoints he isn’t getting paid a lot compared to other relievers out there. I would have gone one less year but like I said the AAV makes this signing a lot easier to take. Trading gray will cover 7.5 of the 9 million owed to ottavino in 2019 so there is also that
Since the Yankees are over the luxury tax just go all out and get manny !!
If there’s only 1 negative about this signing, and this is a good signing by the Yankees, it’s giving him that 3rd year. Aside from that, this is a big move for various reasons. Mainly the Yankees bullpen is absolutely loaded. Yankees are a better team from exactly a year ago. That’s all that matters.
Nasty Stuff!!!! coming out of the best bullpen in baseball this season
As of today …
Most improved team over the past 12 months:
NYY
Most improved team over the next 12 months:
SD
This was the move I was hoping for. The Yankee bullpen is a game changing weapon now that they can ride all the way to the pennant! The one caveat is that Boone is the manager.He did not show much acumen and creativity last year in his use of the pen. Hopefully with a year under his belt and self analysis of last years mismanagement in critical situations things will be different……..Having a weapon like this is great,but you must know how and when to wield it. As far as the offense goes, we do NOT need to add any more at this time. Let’s see how we perform in Spring training with the current group.
Boone was hampered by injuries to starters and bad years by Robertson and Kahnle, blowing it in big spots.
Bullpen was game changing last year, and the year before that. Still no pennant
He embraced analytics and worked on spin rate etc etc, thus his dominance at age 33. He’s had a Verlander-esque rise, although Adam never got near as good as Justin prior to his reemergence.
Ottavino to the Yankees made Jeff Passan all moist
Wow Ottavino got Tommy Hunter money plus an additional year.
Cool. Hope the Red Sox sign Babe Ruth to face him.
They can sell The Babe to the Yanks again
Can we get a starter instead? CC isn’t exactly gonna go 200 innings
with that pen CC just needs to go 3 innings. hahahahaha
No #5 starter goes 200 innings
Betcha we will Bobby
neither will happ or tanaka or paxton……
Neither did any Red Sox or Yankee starter last year, lol
Fangraphs now has the Yanks 3 wins better than the Sox now 53.4 to 50.9 , and Vegas likes them too!
Another reliever rather than a quality starter…. How many years in row do you put together the greatest bullpen in baseball and not win a world series before you question the strategy? At some point, do you think the great Cashman will figure out that having the best bullpen doesn’t win championships? Most over-rated GM in baseball. Their arch-rival has 4 times as many with two different GMs!! When will Yankee fans figure out Cashman is clueless?
could not agree more- yet people love him.
I pointed out above missed opportunities with sale verlander and cole and he still gets the pass.
I love andujar but in what world is he more valuable than a legit #1? the yanks didn’t even play him full time in October but oh man he is a keeper over a guy who can last 8 innings and hold teams in check.
This pen signing is great but only in a vacuum. sans a legit #1 SP we are behind Boston and Houston period.
I agree. As a fan it is hard to say that, but for I can’t count how many years, SP has been the ya Kees week spot and every year minimal upgrades are needed. These days teams need two aces to compete, we barely have one, and that was just last year.
Finally got a top prediction right
Number 0 is available! First time ever
Am I the only one that thinks the Yankees bullpen will be the same as last year? They just replaced Robertson with Ottavino. It’s still a very good bullpen but I dont think it’s an upgrade, or a downgrade necessarily.
If so, that is good. They had the highest WAR of any relief bullpen in history. If they are the same, or better then this is great
Maybe, but theyll have an upgrade in Tarpley if he sticks or Kahnle if he bounces back, plus Britton for the entire year instead of a couple months. Hopefully Chapman stays healthy too. Wouldve been nice to see DRob return tho, he showed he was good at handling multiple inning outings in various spots in the game.
They’re gonna let him wear “0.”
Next comes the facial hair rule.
He’s being paid really good for a non closer, non setup man.
This is a major upgrade from David Robertson. Robertson was starting to go on the decline while this guy had a 2.43 ERAin a major homerun park like Coors field. As far as people saying the Yankees made no upgrades in the starting rotation let us see everyone say that in the middle of the season because I believe Paxton is going to be really good for them.
Checkbook baseball at it’s finest.
Boo-f*ing-hoo!!! That other team in ChiTown has been tied all offseason to a 3B… Maybe they’re asking him to play for free…
Robertson is being paid $11.5 mill a year. Would it had made you happier if the Yanks paid $2.5M more a year? I think you’d still be whining.
You misspelled winning.
Being that this is baseball, I think you forgot to put on some vagi-Stat…
Should not wear 0… Just shouldn’t.
I honestly don’t care at all that Ottavino is wearing 0. Like Cashman said, it’s just a number. No Yankee great wore it, it’s not retired and holds no special significance like the other single digits. Glad he gets to keep his jersey number, and I hope to see many zeroes on the scoreboard too
On ‘nickname day’ the name on back of his uni could be ‘THE BIG’.
Great. Now Babe Ruth has to sign with the Red Sox so he can face Ottavino. Move Benintendi from left to center and trade JBJ to make room for Ruth as cleanup hitter. Hits 80-90 big ones as a modern hitter.