I’ll say up front that I didn’t love Adam Ottavino as a Cubs bullpen target, at least not relative to other options that were – at one time – out there. His recent injury issues and disastrous 2017 season made me a little leery about “buying” him as definitely going to be the dominant 2018 guy going forward, at age 33. It’s certainly possible, but he struck me as kind of a Brandon Morrow type of free agent: recent dominance, early 30s, past concerns aplenty.
To that end, it doesn’t surprise me that Ottavino did not get a monster contract, but I’m not chapped that the Cubs weren’t involved. Ottavino to the Yankees:
Ottavino deal with #Yankees is three years, $27M, sources tell The Athletic. Pending physical.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 17, 2019
To me, that’s a fine contract for Ottavino, even if it’s a lot less than many were predicting early in the offseason. For the Yankees, too, it’s not a tremendously expensive contract to add to their comically expensive and comically awesome bullpen.
OK. Now that another guy you weren’t in on has signed, perhaps you can add an arm, Cubs?