With David Robertson choosing to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies, the Yankees bullpen must now set their sights on Zach Britton and Adam Ottavino.
Over the last few seasons, the New York Yankees have featured one of the best bullpens in baseball, and David Robertson has played a primary role in making it so. Now, With Robertson choosing to leave for the Phillies, the Yankees are in need of bullpen help. Because of this, Zach Britton and Adam Ottavino should be their primary targets.
Losing D-Rob will now apply pressure on the Yankees to go out and acquire a couple of relief pitchers. They’ve already been reported to be close on a deal to bring back Zach Britton, but bringing back Britton still leaves the Yanks one RP short from last season.
With David Robertson off the board, Zach Britton looks like the next reliever to go. He and Yankees have been in discussions.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 3, 2019
So, who should the Yankees go out and acquire to fill in the hole left behind by D-Rob?
The obvious answer is Adam Ottavino.
Ottavino made headlines (and some enemies) earlier this winter when he declared on the StatCast Podcast that he would “strike Babe Ruth out every time.”
That, of course, served as a distraction for the baseball world in a slow week in early December. When we focus on Ottavino line of work, however, a couple of things stand out.
First, the biggest problem with Ottavino is that he has yet to deliver consecutive good season in his career. If we just look at ERA, this is what his last six out of seven seasons (omitting 2015 because of Tommy John) look like:
- 2018 – 2.43 ERA
- 2017 – 5.06 ERA
- 2016 – 2.67 ERA
- 2014 – 3.60 ERA
- 2015 – 2.64 ERA
- 2013 – 4.56 ERA
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Now, you have to take into consideration that in his career, Ottavino has appeared in 361 out of the 366 games as a member of the Colorado Rockies. Despite the fact that Otto played half of his games in Coors Field, last season he posted a stellar 2.43 ERA and 0.991 WHIP, all the while setting a franchise strikeout record by a RP with 112 SO.
Oh, and by the way, Ottavino dominated mostly in home games.
When you look at Ottavino’s home/away splits, the difference is staggering.
- Home: 34.1 IP | 2.10 ERA | 47 SO | 0.757 WHIP
- Away: 43.1 IP | 2.70 ERA | 65 SO | 1.177 WHIP
In the worst pitcher’s park in MLB, Otto managed to keep runners off-base better than he did in away games, thereby allowing fewer runs.
Finally, just look at this slider. Is that not reason enough to sign this guy?
The New York Yankees need to make their move soon after seeing one of their top choices go off of the board, but luckily there are multiple options still on the table.