Blue Jays: Three free agent pitchers to stay away from this offseason

Adam Ottavino – Relief Pitcher

Looking at the relief market, there are quite a few different options the Blue Jays could explore to improve the bullpen. One of them to avoid however is Adam Ottavino, who pitched this past season with the Boston Red Sox.

The soon-to-be 36-year-old right-hander is coming off a 4.21 ERA season through 69 outings in 2021, preceded by a rough 2020 campaign that saw Ottavino post one of the worst ERA’s of his career at 5.89 with a 9.8 H/9. For his career, the New York product sports a 3.60 ERA through 532 games with 258 walks, 648 strikeouts, and a 1.328 WHIP split between the Red Sox, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, and the Colorado Rockies, where he has spent a majority of his career.

As the offseason comes within reach, here are three pitchers the Toronto Blue Jays should stay away from this winter if they want to improve the roster.

The reason Ottavino makes this list is that he has struggled to pitch in the AL East these past two seasons and if he were to join the Blue Jays, he would continue to face tough lineups like the Red Sox, Yankees, and Tampa Bay Rays. Through five games at the Rogers Centre, Ottavino sports a 6.75 ERA with four earned runs, four walks, and five strikeouts through 5.1 innings pitched.

The one thing to consider is that his first season with the Yankees in 2019 was one of the best of his career, a 1.90 ERA through 66.1 innings pitched, but these past two seasons continue to point towards a potential trend downward rather than when he was pitching well and consistent back with the Rockies.

Factor in that Ottavino is most likely going to be looking for a contract similar to his $7.2 million he signed with the Red Sox, the Blue Jays just might be better off spending their money for relievers on the up rather than taking a gamble on one coming off two rough campaigns who struggled in the same division.