Adam Ottavino is headed back to New York…to Queens, that is, as the Mets have signed the right-handed reliever to a one-year deal reportedly worth $4 million plus up to $1 million in incentives.
Ottavino, 36, spent last season in Boston, where he posted a 4.21 ERA and notched 11 saves in 62 innings and in the 95th percentile in hard hit ball percentage and the 93rd percentile in average exit velocity, according to Baseball Savant.
That was the final year of a three-year, $27 million deal he signed with the Yankees prior to 2019, but the Yankees shipped him and minor-league Frank German to the Red Sox last winter in what was basically a salary dump, allowing the Bombers to use Ottavino's luxury-tax hit to add Brett Gardner, Darren O'Day, and Justin Wilson on smaller deals.
The righty had a stellar 1.90 ERA and 88 strikeouts in 66 1/3 innings in his first year in pinstripes, but he was hit hard in the 2019 ALCS (three earned runs, 3.00 WHIP in 2 1/3 innings over five games) and then allowed 12 earned runs in 18 1/3 innings in the shortened 2020 season.
For his career, the Brooklyn-born Ottavino, who re-invented himself in a pitching lab in Manhattan before joining the Yankees, has a 3.60 ERA in 559 2/3 innings.
Oddly enough, one reporter tried to get Mets GM Billy Eppler to discuss Ottavino in his Sunday press conference before the signing became official, which prompted Eppler to say "nice try" and manager Buck Showalter to quip "I'm definitely back in New York."
Ottavino is the second pitcher added since the lockout ended, following the acquisition of Chris Bassitt from Oakland on Saturday night, and virtually replaces Jeurys Familia, who signed a one-year deal with the Phillies on Saturday night.
Eppler did intimate, however, that if the team makes any more additions, it's likely to be on the pitching side, as the Mets have strong rotation depth after acquiring Bassitt, but might look for a left-handed reliever to replace Aaron Loup.
"I feel fairly good about our position player group right now. I'll never rule anything out, but I'd be fairly surprised if we went another bat or anything like that at this juncture," Eppler said.
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