{"id":46108,"date":"2025-04-02T11:19:19","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T11:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=46108"},"modified":"2025-04-02T11:19:19","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T11:19:19","slug":"why-yankees-were-eager-to-add-39-year-old-reliever-back-to-their-bullpen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=46108","title":{"rendered":"Why Yankees were eager to add 39-year-old reliever back to their bullpen"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

NEW YORK \u2014<\/b> After opting out of his minor-league deal with the Red Sox last month, right-hander Adam Ottavino was biding his time, waiting for the right opportunity to present itself.<\/p>\n

He was confident that he is still a big-league pitcher, not wanting to sign with a club and pitch in Triple-A, serving as a someone\u2019s backup.<\/p>\n

So, when the Yankees came calling, with closer Devin Williams going on the paternity list, it was a no-brainer for the reliever to put the pinstripes back on.<\/p>\n

He signed a big-league deal with the team and got to the ballpark on Tuesday afternoon, his first time back with the Yankees since the two-year stint he had with the club from 2019 to 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried with the Yankees for a while, even this offseason,\u201d Ottavino said. \u201cI felt like I was kind of in a little bit of a no man\u2019s land for the last week or so. But it all came together pretty quickly. Obviously, I\u2019m grateful for the opportunity. I\u2019m very lucky for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ottavino, 39, admitted that his stuff was down and not impressive enough to pitch in the big leagues early in spring training with Boston. He\u2019s entering his 15th MLB season and it\u2019s tough to build up quickly, especially when he signed with the Red Sox midway through February. But Ottavino threw the ball well right before he exercised his opt-out and the Yankees noticed that uptick in his effectiveness.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been on our board a little bit, I know the front office has been talking about him the last couple weeks,\u201d Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. \u201cFelt like what he was doing at the back end of spring training was in line with who Otto is. With Devin, felt like an opportunity to get him in here and excited to have him back.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Boone, Ottavino has \u201ca lot left in there.\u201d He referenced the right-hander\u2019s track record and the fact that he\u2019s been pitching in big markets for much of this past decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s still been very effective throughout his entire career,\u201d Boone said. \u201cWhen we first got him, we brought him in to be kind of that righty killer, high-leverage set-up, and he delivered on that. Obviously, very familiar with with what it takes to play here, and he\u2019s played here and the Mets and Boston. This is what he knows. So there\u2019s a chance to get a quality pitcher in here and hopefully he can help us. Where it goes, we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ottavino is well aware that this could be a short reunion. Williams won\u2019t miss too much time and as of now, all the veteran knows is that the Yankees wanted to sign him for Tuesday\u2019s game. The only other realistic option would be for the Yankees to option Brent Headrick down to Triple-A, but even if they do that, relievers on the injured list like Ian Hamilton aren\u2019t far away from rejoining the active roster.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not looking beyond this first game back in a Yankees uniform regardless. Ottavino has grown to understand that in this game, tomorrow is never guaranteed.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of however it plays out, it\u2019s thrilling and really exciting,\u201d said Ottavino, a native of New York City. \u201cIt\u2019s a team that I obviously love and a lot of love for everybody in here. Just excited and feeling lucky, just trying to enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
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    The Yankees signed veteran reliever Adam Ottavino to a major league deal on Tuesday, adding him to their bullpen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":46109,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Yankees were eager to add 39-year-old reliever back to their bullpen - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=46108\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Yankees were eager to add 39-year-old reliever back to their bullpen - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Yankees signed veteran reliever Adam Ottavino to a major league deal on Tuesday, adding him to their bullpen.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=46108\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-02T11:19:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/avtvip-60.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=46108\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=46108\",\"name\":\"Why Yankees were eager to add 39-year-old reliever back to their bullpen - 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