Red Sox and Adam Ottavino Agree to Minor-League Deal

In a bit of a surprising move, the Red Sox and free agent reliever Adam Ottavino are in agreement on a minor-league deal with an invite to camp, according to Jon Heyman. As with many minor-league deals for veteran players, Ottavino will make $2 million if he makes the big-league roster, but if he doesn't make the 40-man out of spring training, he has the chance to opt out and try to sign as a free agent with another team.

The Red Sox and Ottavino are incredibly familiar with each other. Ottavino pitched in Boston in 2021, and was a crucial part of the bullpen during the team's ALCS run, allowing one earned run over five playoff appearances. He has spent the last three seasons with the Mets, running a combined 3.18 ERA over 192 appearances and 183 1/3 innings. Last season Ottavino posted a 4.34 ERA and 3.67 FIP while running an excellent 28.6% strikeout rate. He’s likely no longer the high-leverage arm he once was, but he adds another veteran presence to the bullpen, and between stints with the Yankees, Red Sox, and Mets, he has plenty of experience in the highest-pressure situations the game has to offer.

In 2024, Ottavino fastball averaged just 93.2 mph, a career-low. His sweeper became his most used pitch, and he used it to play off his sinker incredibly well. Against righties, he threw the sweeper or sinker over 80% of the time; against lefties, he led with the sinker and mixed in the sweeper, four-seamer, cutter, and changeup. Last season he had a 44.4% ground ball rate, solid, but still his lowest since his time in Boston. The improved defense of Alex Bregman and Trevor Story up the middle should help him out quite a bit.

While this likely was not the deal for a lights-out reliever fans were looking for, Ottavino makes the bullpen much scarier for opponents. He's a dependable arm who's thrown at least 50 innings in every full season since 2017. He's struck out at least one batter per inning in every season since 2015, and he runs solid groundball rates. Now the Red Sox have multiple late-inning veterans to mix and match with, not counting guys like Justin Slaten and Luis Guerrero who should be impactful relievers in their own rights. Last week, the Red Sox signaled to the league that they were serious about contending. Adding a veteran of Ottavino’s ilk is a big market move that could pay dividends.