Boston has reportedly agreed to a minor league deal with veteran reliever Adam Ottavino, per multiple reports Tuesday morning. According to the New York Post’s Jon Heyman, the deal also includes a spring training invite, as Ottavino will presumably join the club soon in Fort Myers, Fla., where the Red Sox had their first full-squad workout Monday.
Ottavino is no stranger to Boston. The Northeastern product spent the 2021 campaign with the Red Sox, appearing in 69 games and allowing 20 earned runs on 55 hits in 62 innings. He left Boston to join the Mets, where he spent the last three seasons, including a 2022 campaign that became one of the best in his career. His 188 ERA+ was the second-best mark of his tenure.
The 39-year-old was the definition of league average in 2024, appearing in 60 games for the Mets while posting a 4.34 ERA with 70 strikeouts in 56 innings. It was the first season since the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign that he didn’t produce positive wins above replacement (Baseball-Reference), finishing the season at exactly 0.0 WAR.
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Digging a little deeper, though, it’s easier to see why Breslow, Andrew Bailey and the rest of Boston’s pitching infrastructure were willing to take the flier on the right-hander. Ottavino’s expected batting average against in 2024 was in the 92nd percentile, and his strikeout percentage was in the 86th percentile. Ottavino induced a ton of bad contact, one of the hallmarks of his lengthy career.
If Ottavino has anything left in the tank, he could be a valuable middle-relief option for a Boston bullpen that already looks strong with Liam Hendriks, Aroldis Chapman and Garrett Whitlock (assuming he’s healthy) locked into spots already.
