There’s no getting around it: the Yankees sending Adam Ottavino to the Red Sox, their arch-rival, is a paycheck dump.
To the Yankees, the usefulness of the trade is clear. They open a spot on the 40-man roster, paying about $ 8 million in salary in a year clearly trying to stay below the $ 210 million tax threshold. With Ottavino’s 2021 salary off the books, the Yankees are still shy of the tax line at an estimated $ 4 million, according to the Associated Press. They could use a left-handed bat, and maybe Brett Gardner, an easygoing, familiar appearance, is next in line to be redrawn for a reunion. Maybe they use that money to add another stable chunk to the starting spin. Maybe they use it to get a reliever to replace Ottavino.
Overall, the trade looks rather skewed. The Yankees receive from the Red Sox “a player who is later called or cash” while they are Ottavino and right-handed …