Yankees’ Brian Cashman knows his trading of Adam Ottavino to the Red Sox may come back to bite him

TAMPA — Brian Cashman knows there is going to be a time this season when Adam Ottavino hurts him. The Yankees GM dealt the righthander to the Red Sox this winter to dump his salary and create some payroll flexibility.

With Ottavino’s $9 million salary off the books, Cashman was able to add Justin Wilson and Darren O’Day to the bullpen and bring back outfielder Brett Gardner.

“We are excited about O’Day and we’re excited about Justin Wilson. And we’re excited about obviously having Gardy returned as well and we’re hoping those players can help Aaron Boone and our staff hit that win column a lot,” Cashman said.

But he knows that having to potentially face Ottavino with the Yankees’ predominantly right-handed lineup, there is going to be a game where the pitcher he traded will hurt them.

“As we all know, we’re very right-handed in the lineup for the most part. We play obviously Boston within our division more times than you want. So, it’s gonna create great lanes for him,” Cashman said of Ottavino. “And he’s gonna have a hell of a year for them I’m sure.

“That wasn’t an easy situation.”

But it was pretty obvious Ottavino would be the one to go.

The New York native struggled so much in 2020 (5.89 ERA) after being unreliable in the 2019 postseason, that he made just one appearance in seven Yankees playoff games this season. That certainly handcuffed Yankees manager Aaron Boone in the postseason.

Ottavino’s numbers in 2020 were definitely skewed by a horrendous appearance in Buffalo against the Blue Jays in which he allowed six earned runs without recording an out. He was better in his final seven outings, but not dominant enough to overcome the doubts that were already there.

With the addition of the veteran side-armer O’Day and Wilson, Cashman thinks the Yankees bullpen is starting from a good spot.

“I never feel confident about anything. I think it serves me best in the position I am in. I certainly hope that it’s a strength for us,” Cashman said of the bullpen. “I think we lined it up for it potentially to be a strength for us and maintain it as a strength for us. At the end of the day, baseball’s very, very humbling. That’s a circumstance we’ve all lived through.

“Anticipated strengths, have a chance to become weaknesses. Areas of weaknesses have a chance to become strengths. It’s just managing through that over a course of a spring training and 162 is what defines your season,” Cashman continued. “I think on paper, it looks good, but then you have to prove it. I think we have a very strong bullpen on paper, but we gotta wait and see how it plays out. Certainly hope it is and if it’s not, then we’ll have to make adjustments along the way, like any team fighting for something has to do. I feel like we’re in a good place starting out, but like anything else, we just have to pay attention to what every step of the way.”

The Yankees invested over $40 million to build a super bullpen back in 2018, signing Zack Britton and Ottavino and re-signing Aroldis Chapman, to bulk up the back-end. But in the coronavirus pandemic-shortened, 60-game season, the Yankees’ bullpen was not as dominant. They finished in the middle of the pack of the American League with a 4.51 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP and their season ended for the second straight year with a home run off of closer Chapman.

JUST ANOTHER PLAYER

While Jasson Dominguez already has a huge social media following to watch his seemingly superhuman home runs, a cool nickname in “The Martian,” and a $5.1 million signing bonus, the 18-year-old still hasn’t played a game in his professional career.

The Yankees’ top prospect had his first chance at playing minor league baseball wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, so the Bombers are just eager to get his career going.

Once he reports to the complex on Himes Avenue, however, Cashman said he will be just one of the guys.

“Obviously he’s like everybody else in the minor league population waiting for a minor league spring training report time and then seeing where it takes him. I don’t have a plan to articulate publicly on him other than the fact that he hasn’t played a minor league game yet,” Cashman said. “Despite obviously his name, the notoriety and the signing bonus, he’s now one of many that will be competing for a spot on the roster and what roster that turns out to be remains to be seen.

“All those evaluations will take place when we have the collection of all the talent and including himself,” Cashman said. “So we need to get his career going just like a number of the other prospects that we have that they’re seasons, or their developments have been stalled because of COVID. We look forward to getting minor league baseball back.Obviously there’s no way to get better unless you’re playing games. So it’s vitally important to start sooner than later.”

DOTS ALL FOLKS

Gleyber Torres hit his first home run of the spring Friday in the Yankees’ 1-1 tie with the Tigers at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Aaron Judge had a ground-rule double and DJ LeMahieu had two singles. … Mike King, who would like to be competing for the fifth starting spot, pitched two scoreless innings behind Domingo German Friday. King gave up a hit and struck out one.