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The Colorado Rockies and injured closer Adam Ottavino agreed to a three-year contract on Saturday morning, according to reports from CBS Sports' Jon Heyman on Twitter. The deal is worth $10.4 million, with no other options for player or team.
Ottavino, 30, was set to go through arbitration this winter after pitching in ten games in 2015 and then missing the rest of the season due to elbow reconstruction surgery. He allowed no runs and just three hits and two walks over 10⅓ innings, striking out 13 in a dominant few weeks of baseball before the injury.
Now, Ottavino is done with arbitration and locked up through 2018, when he was due to be a free agent, anyways. The Rockies have bought out his future arbitration years plus, according to SB Nation's Chris Cotillo, one free agent season.
The closer is due just under $3.5 million per season on average over the life of the deal, though we are not yet sure how the money specifically breaks down year-to-year. Given the money relievers are getting on the free agent market, it's smart of the Rockies to buy him out of a year of free agency at that price, and lock up the man who became a dominant closer, if only briefly, in 2015.
Now, let's just hope he comes back healthy and strong in the middle of the 2016 season:
Ottavino is said be recovering nicely after tommy John surgery and is expected back by midsummer #rockies
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) December 19, 2015
Congratulations to Ottavino and the Rockies on the new contract.
Update, 12:54 p.m. MT: Ottavino's contract breakdown has been released:
ottavino breakdown: 1.3M '16, 2.1M '17, 7M '18. #rockies
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) December 19, 2015
That's quite a jump to $7 million in 2018, but again, considering the money quality closers command on the free agent market, the Rockies might have just made a very shrewd move with Ottavino.