Red Sox rumors have Boston acquiring Adam Ottavino in a rare deal
The latest Boston Red Sox rumors have the team picking up reliever Adam Ottavino and minor-league right-hander Frank German from the New York Yankees in just the second trade between the clubs this century.
Lindsey Adler of The Athletic first reported the deal, while Joel Sherman of the New York Post provided more details.
Boston will be on the hook for most of Ottavino’s $8 million salary this season and a $9 million charge toward the competitive balance tax, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. New York will send $850,000 to the Red Sox, who assume the rest of Ottavino’s 2021 salary as well as a $3 million bonus payment due next year.
Contrary to some opinions, this was not, in fact, the conclusion of a past transaction.
Adam Ottavino is the “player to be named later” from when the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920. https://t.co/PibxcJQ30r
— Elizabeth Muratore (@nymfan97) January 25, 2021
In that vein, however, New York will get either cash considerations or a player to be named later, according to Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors.
It is the first trade between the bitter American League East rivals since July 31, 2014, when the Red Sox sent Stephen Drew to the Yankees for Kelly Johnson.
The last offseason trade between the clubs was more than 80 years ago, when New York purchased first baseman Babe Dahlgren — yes, the guy who replaced Lou Gehrig — from Boston.
The 35-year-old Ottavino will be looking to bounce back from a rough 2020 season after his first year in the Bronx was the best of his career.
Last season, Ottavino had a 5.89 ERA and 1.582 WHIP in 18.1 innings over 24 appearances, striking out 25 and walking nine. That was a sharp contrast from 2019, when he had a 1.90 ERA and 1.312 WHIP in 66.1 innings, working in 73 games and walking 40 while fanning 88.
But a deeper look at the analytics shows the two seasons weren’t that much different. In 2019, Ottavino’s Fielding Independent ERA (FIP) was 3.44. Last season it went up, but only fractionally to 3.52.
Entering his 11th season, Ottavino was a first-round pick by the St. Louis Cardinals from Boston’s Northeastern University in 2006. The native of Brooklyn debuted for the Cards in 2010 before spending all of 2011 at Triple-A Memphis.
In April 2012, Ottavino was claimed off waivers by the Colorado Rockies and emerged as a dependable setup man over seven seasons before signing with the Yankees in January 2019.
Over parts of 10 seasons, Ottavino had appeared in 463 games and worked 497.2 innings, with a 3.53 ERA and 1.312 WHIP. He strikes out 10.4 batters per nine innings, while walking 4.0 per nine. He’s topped 70 appearances in a season three times, working in 75 games in both 2014 and 2018 and 73 in 2019.
German, meanwhile, is a 23-year-old right-hander taken in the fourth round by the Yankees out of the University of North Florida in 2018. He has yet to advance beyond High-A and has worked primarily as a starter.
In 2019, he was 4-4 with Tampa in the High-A Florida State League in 16 appearances, 15 starts, with a 3.79 ERA and 1.382 WHIP in 76 innings. He struck out 82 while walking 35 and he served up nine home runs. He was a marginal prospect for the Yankees, ranked No. 24 in the organization by MLB.com.
While he has a plus fastball in the 94-96 mph range, topping out at 98, he needs work on his slider, which he used as more of a slurve while at North Florida. He’s got the makings of a decent changeup as well.