Familiar Yankees face hits open market again minutes after loss to Pirates

The New York Yankees needed Adam Ottavino to fill a bullpen gap prior to their series against the Diamondbacks, but perhaps they never communicated just how small that gap would really be.

Ottavino was signed off the end-of-spring scrap heap to fill in while Devin Williams was on the paternity list, and he appeared in two of the three games of that home set against Arizona, walking two and whiffing two while retiring four.

At the end of the series, though, he was shown his walking papers to welcome Williams back. Perhaps Ottavino underestimated the Yankees' attachment to Ryan Yarbrough. Maybe he just wanted an in-person audition.

Either way, he found himself DFA'd once again after a relatively successful homecoming, while Williams found his way to Pittsburgh (a series he maybe wishes he'd sat out after being walked off by Tommy Pham Sunday).

Minutes after the Yankees' Sunday loss, Ottavino sent word to the team that, instead of heading to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he'd be electing free agency and hitting the open market. There's certainly a chance he eventually returns to the Yankees on a minor-league deal (like Dominic Smith), but for now, he's untethered and trying to land elsewhere across MLB.

Former Yankees reliever Adam Ottavino chooses free agency over reporting to Triple-A

Ottavino's most recent three full seasons came in the blue-and-orange pinstripes of the New York Mets; that's where he signed after the Yankees dealt him to Boston in 2021 in a surprising salary dump among rivals. Garrett Whitlock was the Yankee-turned-Sox who ended up stealing headlines that season anyhow, in a surprising twist of fate; Ottavino got smashed by Giancarlo Stanton late in the year, making the deal an absent-minded win for Brian Cashman.

Now, the 39-year-old Ottavino might not have much rope left for exploration. His trademark slider is still nasty enough to strike out Babe Ruth, but it's getting harder and harder to separate it from his fastball, and dot the heater with the regularity to make the breaker effective. The broadcast booth might be calling sooner than he might've thought during his farewell tour last week.