Yankees Trade Adam Ottavino To The… Red Sox?
I said it before and I’ll say it again. We officially live in an alternate reality universe. The Yankees and Red Sox are best friends and are out here making trades with each other? Yeah, we’re all screwed. 2021 is going to suck too.
No, you’re not drunk. This actually happened. Right-handed reliever Adam Ottavino has been traded to the Red Sox. The Sox are apparently eating his $8 million salary in order to essentially buy a prospect. The Yankees’ fourth-round pick from the 2018 draft is heading to Boston.
Lindsay Adler, Joel Sherman, and Mark Feinsand all reported relevant pieces of the news story.
This is only the second trade that Brian Cashman has ever made with the Red Sox. The first being in 2014 when Stephen Drew was swapped for Kelly Johnson. Both players who were below average utility infielders.
This was a legit salary dump by the Yankees. Do we realize how weird this is going to be? The Yankees legit pawned a player off to the Red Sox in order to create extra money below the luxury tax threshold. Frank German was ranked 24th in the Yankees farm system.
In order to make this kind of trade, Red Sox Vice President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom has to believe that Ottavino will have a bounce back season. Between 2018-19, Ottavino appeared in 148 games posting a 2.19 ERA. 2020 wasn’t as kind where Ottavino posted an ERA of 5.89.
Ottavino was born in Brooklyn so his hometown team traded his ass to their most hated rival. Think about how Ottavino feels today. They didn’t just trade him to the Red Sox. They did it to dump his salary while giving up another prospect to Boston. Are we going to get an Ottavino revenge tour in 2021?
When it comes to Ottavino, everything comes down to his slider. It’s one of the filthiest pitches in baseball. When the slider is on, Ottavino is one of the best in the game. When it’s not, he gets crushed and walks everybody in sight.
It’s not a bad risk by the Red Sox adding a player like Ottavino along with a prospect. Then again, if it doesn’t work Bloom will have been responsible for helping the Yankees. God this trade is a brain twister. The butterfly effect this trade might have is insane.
