Yankees Rumors: Adam Ottavino’s reps have met with Bombers

Thus far, the Winter Meetings have been a bore. So as we wait for something of significance to occur, the Yankees have reportedly met with the reps of free agent relief pitcher, Adam Ottavino.

The hot stove is barely warm as Day 4 of the Winter Meetings are in full swing. While a Wednesday morning report of the Yankees bringing back starting pitcher J.A. Happ were premature, fans of the Evil Empire wait with bated breath for general manager Brian Cashman to better his team before the new year.

So as the Yanks potentially work towards securing Happ for the next three years (I really hope that final year is a club option), relief pitching needs to be the next area addressed.

On Tuesday night, Joel Sherman reported that the Yankees had met with the reps for free agent reliever, Adam Ottavino. While this is a step in the right direction, considering Ottavino is one of the most well-established relief pitchers on the open market, Jon Morosi says that both the Red Sox and Mets continue to show interest in the 33-year-old Brooklyn-native.

That’s now the third Yankee bullpen target that Boston is trying to beat the Bombers to (David Robertson and Zach Britton being the others).

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As we recently found out with Patrick Corbin, growing up in New York — or rooting for the Yanks as a child has little to no influence over a free agents choice of employment — not when one club offers significantly more money than another.

Ottavino recently made news when he appeared on MLB’s Statcast Podcast, telling a story that while in Triple-A, he insisted he’d strikeout Babe Ruth every time.

Since Ruth, who never struck out more than 93 times (1923) in a single season isn’t here to defend himself, we’ll chalk it up to a confident reliever feelin’ himself after a campaign in which he stuck out 112 batters in 77.2 innings.

"“I had an argument with a coach in Triple-A about Babe Ruth’s effectiveness in today’s game,” Ottavino said. “I said, ‘Babe Ruth, with that swing, swinging that bat, I got him hitting .140 with eight homers.’“I’m not trying to disrespect him, you know, rest in peace, you know, shoutout to Babe Ruth. But it was a different game. I mean, the guy ate hot dogs and drank beer and did whatever he did. It was just a different game.”"