Colorado Rockies lose Adam Ottavino to New York Yankees

It was not much of a surprise, but at least it’s now reportedly a done deal. The Colorado Rockies have lost one of the key pieces of their 2018 bullpen.

After a tremendous bounce-back season with the Colorado Rockies, reports say that Adam Ottavino will sign a three-year, $27 million deal with the New York Yankees. Ironically, those are the same salary and year figures that the Rockies used to sign Bryan Shaw and Jake McGee last season. Both of those players had disastrous seasons with the Rockies while Ottavino flourished as the set-up man for closer Wade Davis.

Ottavino went 6-4 with a 2.43 ERA last season and struck out 112 in 77.2 innings pitched. Together with Seunghwan Oh and Scott Oberg, he formed part of an “O team” that helped the Rockies to their second consecutive postseason berth.

That came after a 2017 season where the 33-year-old right-hander posted a 5.06 ERA in his first full season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

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Rockies fans will certainly question Colorado’s decision not to re-sign Ottavino. However, with his age and Colorado’s spending on last year’s bullpen (Shaw, McGee and Davis brought in a record haul for relievers), seeing Ottavino depart was not shocking in inner circles.

It’s also another savings for the Rockies who are already looking ahead to what it will take to keep Nolan Arenado with the franchise beyond this season.

However, Colorado will certainly miss the 2018 version of Ottavino this season. Our own Jake Shapiro pointed out some interesting statistics about Ottavino in comparison to other relievers in this tweet.

As a note, Ottavino was never offered a contract by the Rockies, according to Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post.

Ottavino and the Yankees made a bit of history this offseason when the reliever talked about the success he would have if he faced Babe Ruth.

Additionally, he joins former Rockies infielders DJ LeMahieu and Troy Tulowitzki as new Yankees signed this offseason.

So what will Colorado do to try to replace Ottavino in the bullpen? They will hope from rebound seasons from Shaw, McGee and Chris Rusin while counting on Oberg and Oh to once again hold up in their roles. Based on last season’s usage and success, Oberg and/or Oh could be tabbed to slide into Ottavino’s role this season.