Adam Ottavino taking shots at Yankees after Mets deal is sad stuff

Adam Ottavino is from New York. He should know how this all works. It’s always Yankees first and then Mets, whichever other secondary sports team they come after. In terms of relevancy, that’s just the way it is.

But fans can understand why Otto is a bit jaded. The Yankees dumped him and his bloated salary last offseason in a trade with the Boston Red Sox, where he eventually got them eliminated from the ALCS against the Houston Astros.

It always stinks to say, “I told you so,” but that’s exactly what the Yankees did when that happened. It validated the trade as well as their efforts to clear salary and upgrade the bullpen in different ways, which actually ended up paying off (even without Justin Wilson and Darren O’Day being any good/active).

Since then, Ottavino became a free agent and recently inked a one-year, $4 million contract with the crosstown Mets, who are trying to make the splash of all splashes with Steve Cohen’s aggression this offseason.

But we’ll believe it when we see it. The Mets often “win the offseason” before their actual campaign officially comes to an end in early June. And that’s not at jab, either. That’s just what consistently happens.

So it’s safe to say he’s playing with fire after dropping these recent comments to the media at spring training.

Adam Ottavino taking shots at the Yankees feels very cheap

Though the trade on the Yankees’ part was a bit ruthless, some would argue they had no choice. Otto had an awful postseason in 2019 and then followed that up with a horrible 2020, during which he logged just one inning in the ALDS against the Tampa Bay Rays. He could no longer be trusted thanks to whatever had happened.

And instead of paying his $9 million salary in 2021, the Yankees thought it’d be better to have someone else eat the money (yes, a bit cheap on their part) and use more reliable, cost-effective options as they eventually built out their bullpen with Wandy Peralta, Joely Rodriguez, Clay Holmes and others.

This is fitting for the Yankees-Mets “rivalry,” though. The Yankees constantly being provoked by Mets players and fans despite there being no motivation to do so followed by the Yankees finishing better in the standings every single year.

It’s sad that Ottavino went from valuable Yankee to apparent Mets troll, but it’s doubtful anybody will lose sleep over this.

Yankees: Adam Ottavino proves yet again Red Sox clearly lost trade

It's been just about the worst start to the 2021 MLB season for Red Sox reliever Adam Ottavino after the New York Yankees traded him to Boston.