The Phillies have signed reliever Lou Trivino to a minor league contract, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The deal comes four days after Trivino elected free agency following his designation for assignment by the Orioles. Trivino is a client of Pro Edge Sports Management.
Trivino, 34, signed a different minor league pact with the Phillies in February. He got an invite to big league spring training in that deal but ultimately started the year at Triple-A. To his credit, Trivino had a 2.77 ERA in 13 innings there, along with solid strikeout, walk, and groundball metrics. The Phillies did not promote him to the Majors, so Trivino opted out of his deal on May 1st. He signed a major league pact with Baltimore on May 4th and only made two appearances, allowing six earned runs in half as many innings. Trivino was designated for assignment on May 10th.
This current minor league deal is Trivino’s third with the Phillies. The first and most impactful one was last August, which followed Trivino’s release from the Dodgers. Trivino held his own over 10 appearances with Philadelphia from August 27th onward. He allowed just two earned runs in nine innings in that sample.
Altogether, Trivino had a 3.97 ERA in 47 2/3 innings between the Giants, Dodgers, and Phillies last year. His 17.9% strikeout rate was low, and Trivino’s 5.10 expected ERA suggested he was lucky to achieve that performance. Still, having not appeared in the Majors from 2023-24 due to Tommy John surgery, it was an accomplishment for Trivino to simply stay healthy for a full season.
There is little harm in the Phillies stashing Trivino in Triple-A as depth. The team’s bullpen has a solid 3.85 ERA and 2.5 fWAR, the latter metric ranking second in the Majors behind the Padres. Jhoan Duran is among the most dominant closers in the game. Brad Keller has a 3.86 ERA and an above-average 21.8% strikeout to walk differential. José Alvarado and Tanner Banks have high ERAs right now, but they’re do for positive regression. Opponents are batting over .460 on balls in play on both of them, which obviously won’t hold over time.
Each member of the back end of the bullpen is strong in terms of talent, peripherals, or both. The low-leverage arms aren’t too bad either. Out of Orion Kerkering, Tim Mayza, Chase Shugart, and Jonathan Bowlan, Mayza is the only one with a negative fWAR right now. The other three have been plenty serviceable. With the bullpen being a team strength and the rotation led by Cristopher Sánchez also performing well, the 23-23 Phillies may be less inclined to mess with their pitching than they are to improve their offense, which has a below-average 94 wRC+. As was the case with his second Phillies deal, Trivino will bide his time in Triple-A until the bullpen needs a fresh arm, be it from overuse or injury.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
