The Red Sox made a trade with the Yankees for pitcher Adam Ottavino
In a very out of the blue transaction today, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees each managed to address a need in each respective organization. The Red Sox added to a bullpen that was in desperate need of depth, acquiring Adam Ottavino, while the Yankees have shed some salary. The righty is owed $9 million this season in addition to a $3 million signing bonus due in 2022.
The Red Sox also acquired the Yankees No. 24 prospect Frank German, a right-handed pitcher, along with $850,000 from New York to balance the money changing hands. Boston will give New York a player to be named later in return. This is the first trade between the teams since 2014 when Stephen Drew was sent to the Bronx for Kelly Johnson.
Boston was known to be in the market for bullpen help, but for it to come at a price of about $11 million in a veteran relief pitcher was the least of anyone’s expectations. In essence, Boston was able to buy a prospect in absorbing the remainder of Ottavino’s contract for the upcoming season, while giving up a player to be named later. The Red Sox front office clearly saw a team in need of salary relief and used the lack of suitors to its advantage. In taking on Ottavino’s contract, the team now has an additional right-hander for the bullpen to go with yet another prospect.
The Red Sox entered the day with around $14 million in money left to spend before exceeding the CBT threshold this offseason, and the additional $9 million that Ottavino’s salary counts for luxury tax purposes added to the books would appear to be a precursor to further transactions.
The team currently has signed three players and has yet to officially announce the transactions. There is a current lack of 40-man spots available on the roster so three additional transactions to make way for Hernandez, Perez, Richards and Ottavino. Veteran second baseman Dustin Pedroia is expected to call it a career a year ahead of time due to injuries, as discussed late last week, which could address at least one of those occupied spots.
The team has about $5 million to spend before going over the threshold for this upcoming season, so any big-name transactions are theoretically out of the question for the time being. The oft-debated Jackie Bradley Jr. discussion can likely be put to rest unless the team manages to get creative in other discussions in the coming weeks.
Overall, the ongoing notion that Boston could eventually take the route of buying a prospect has come to fruition, albeit in the most unexpected of ways with Boston’s biggest rival. In Ottavino, the Red Sox are getting a veteran pitcher who had a rough year but has the potential to bounce back in a big way, along with yet another pitching prospect as the team continues to build for the future.