According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the New York Mets are bringing back reliever Adam Ottavino on a one-year, $4.5 million deal. Ottavino spent the past two seasons with the Mets but declined the $6.75 million player option on his contract in November. While his new deal is for less total money, it presumably contains less, or zero, in deferrals.
In two seasons with the Mets, Ottavino produced a 2.62 ERA in 127.1 innings with 15 saves. The 38-year-old will provide another veteran presence to a Mets bullpen that has thinned out since last summer.
Adam Ottavino, Mets Agree to New Deal
While Ottavino was not as good in 2023 as he was the year prior, the righty still produced a season that was 32 percent better than the league average. One contributing factor to the slight decline is that he struck out almost 7 percent fewer hitters while walking almost 5 percent more.
Ottavino generated ground balls and missed barrels at elite rates, but his results likely suffered from a decline in the Mets’ defense. Since the shift will still be limited/banned in 2024, Ottavino getting his strikeout percentage back to his career average (27.1 percent) will be huge.
This is especially true because Ottavino has always struggled to control the running game. That was especially true in 2023, the first season in which the pitch clock, bigger bases, and limited pickoff attempts helped facilitate stolen bases.
However, Ottavino is known as a pitcher who embraces analytics and new ideas in his training. While that helped him be one of the first to throw and perfect the sweeper, he told Foul Territory that he is working on techniques to control the running game better in 2024.
Ottavino’s Fit With The Mets
Ottavino will serve as the main set-up man for a returning Edwin Diaz. This combination produced excellent results in 2022 and effectively shortened games for a 101-win squad. While expecting both to be that elite again might be a lot, they both have multiple seasons of great, High-leverage production.
The Mets are in a weird spot this season, and many are not sure what to expect. But with this formidable duo, plus Brooks Raley, at the end of the bullpen, it’s not hard to see the Mets being competitive in 2024. And if the team is out of contention, Ottavino’s contract will be easy to move at the trade deadline (assuming he’s pitching well).
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