Colorado Rockies: Rumors are starting to swirl about Adam Ottavino

The free agent market, much like last offseason, has been virtually silent in the first month of the offseason. However, in the past few days, there have been a few rumor rumblings and the most recent ones have been about a former Rockie…going to an oft-hated team.

Nearly every team in Major League Baseball is looking to improve their bullpen, whether it be by sheer necessity or just a want, since you can never have too much pitching. One of the teams that falls in the latter of the two categories is the Evil Empire: the New York Yankees.

According to Joel Sherman of MLB Network and the New York Post, the New York Yankees are looking to add two relievers to their bullpen, one that had the 4th-best bullpen ERA in all of baseball in 2018. That bullpen included the likes of Aroldis Chapman, Chad Green, David Robertson, Zach Britton, and Dellin Betances.

One of their targets, according to Sherman, is former Rockie Adam Ottavino. Ottavino was ranked as #21 on MLB Trade Rumors list of the top 50 free agents a few weeks ago and, coincidentally, they predicted that Ottavino would find himself in Bronx. They also predicted that he will go there for 3 years and $30 million (or $10 million/season).

For relievers on the market, MLBTR has Ottavino ranked as the #5 free agent among relievers, behind Craig Kimbrel, Jeurys Familia, and the aforementioned Zach Britton and David Robertson.

As MLBTR also noted, Ottavino was 8th among all qualifying relievers in strikeouts percentage last season (36.1 percent). He also averaged 13 strikeouts per nine innings.

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Final Thoughts

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Yankees do nab Ottavino since money is not a factor for them. They could sign Ottavino for $30 million, still get another reliever that’s even more expensive, and still sign somebody like Bryce Harper for a contract that will definitely cost whoever signs him towards the end of the contract (like every other contract in the history of baseball that is longer than 4 or 5 years).

For the Rockies, however, that would almost definitely be out of the cards for a number of reasons. First off, they have signed numerous relievers to poor contracts (Mike Dunn, Bryan Shaw, Jake McGee, and, arguably, Wade Davis).

And, secondly, if they really do want to resign Nolan Arenado (which I, quite frankly, wouldn’t hold my breath for), that $30 million for Ottavino (give or take) could be used for him to sign a free agent deal/extension in the next calendar year or so.

The Rockies need to improve their bullpen desperately but they will probably have to go with the trade route considering the payroll they already have the books. And a lot of the payroll is for the aforementioned relievers that have struggled mightily.