San Francisco Giants Sign Former A's, Yankees Reliever
The San Francisco Giants are a team looking to contend in one of the toughest divisions in MLB. Not only do they have the free-spending Los Angeles Dodgers to compete with, but the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres are also pretty good in their own right.
Each of those three teams has at least played in the National League Championship Series within the last three seasons, while the Diamondbacks made it to the World Series, and the Dodgers are the reigning champs.
While it may not be the splashiest move, the Giants did make an addition to their roster on Thursday that could help them in 2025. According to MLB insider, Robert Murray, veteran reliever Lou Trivino and the San Francisco Giants have agreed to a minor league contract. Trivino will be reunited with his former manager, Bob Melvin this spring, as he received an invite to the big league Spring Training.
Lou Trivino was an eleventh-round pick of the Oakland Athletics back in the 2013 MLB Draft. From 2013-2018, Trivino worked his way up the A's organization. In 2018, he posted a 1.69 with the A's Triple-A affiliate, and the club elected to promote him to the big leagues early in the season.
After the early season call-up, Trivino would actually pitch a career-high with 74 innings with the A's in just his first big-league season. Former A's manager Bob Melvin's decision to lean on the rookie right-hander in just his first season turned out quite well. He ended up posting a 2.92 ERA and had 4 saves. He also struck out 82 batters, while walking 31.
In 2019, he'd have a down year, but in the shortened 2020 season, he bounced back. Because the season was only 60 games, he only pitched 23.1 innings. He posted a 3.86 ERA and struck out 26 batters.
Trivino's 2021 campaign in Oakland was filled with ups and downs. He pitched 73.2 innings, and posted a solid 3.18 ERA. He also had an impressive 22 saves, and served as the club's closer. However, towards the end of the season when the club was just a few games out of the playoffs, he blew some crucial games for the green and gold.
This caused some A's fans to be wary of Trivino heading into the 2022 season--and Trivino played poorly in his first half with Oakland. After having a 6.47 ERA in just 32 innings pitched, the A's ended up sending off Trivino to the New York Yankees as part of the Frankie Montas deal.
In exchange, the A's received left-handers JP Sears and Ken Waldichuk, right-hander Luis Medina, and utility-man Cooper Bowman. Sears has been a consistent presence in the A's rotation the past two seasons, while Waldichuk and Medina are set to miss time in 2025. Bowman was left unprotected by the A's in December's Rule 5 Draft, and he was selected by the Cincinnati Reds.
Trivino pitched just over 21 innings in pinstripes and was fairly effective before injuring his arm and missing the remainder of his 2022 campaign. He would end up getting Tommy John surgery before the 2023 season, leading him to miss the entirety of that campaign.
Trivino also suffered a shoulder injury, and also dealt with elbow inflammation, which also lead him to miss the entirety of the 2024 season as well.
The signing of the veteran right-hander Lou Trivino adds a low-risk, high reward arm to the mix for the Giants' Spring Training squad. Considering that he was a high leverage arm for the A's just a few years ago, there's a chance the Giants could see him return to form in 2025.
I grew up playing baseball, and also enjoyed watching and writing about my favorite team, the A’s. Being a diehard A’s fan from New Jersey is certainly not common, but I love the team and all of the current and former players so much. I currently attend school at Penn State Scranton where I get the opportunity to play college baseball.