Philadelphia Phillies Add Former Los Angeles Dodgers Reliever

The Philadelphia Phillies bullpen has been a weakness of the club over the course of the entire season, and among the postseason contenders this year, their cumulative 4.50 ERA ranks last. Among all teams, the Phillies bullpen ranks No. 24. Since the All-Star break, the ranking has remained the same, but the team ERA has inflated up to 5.36 in a smaller sample size.

The team addressed this a bit at the trade deadline, adding Jhoan Duran from the Minnesota Twins, and he was able to lock down a pair of saves over the weekend.

Even with the addition of Duran, the Phillies are adding another depth option to their bullpen, signing Lou Trivino to a minor-league deal. Trivino was most recently with the Los Angeles Dodgers this season, putting up a 3.76 ERA across 26 1/3 innings of work while holding a 1.41 ERA.

Trivino was born in Green Lane, PA, roughly 40 minutes from Citizens Bank Park and went to Slippery Rock for college, so he is certainly familiar with the area.

The 33-year-old right-hander began his career with the Oakland Athletics in 2018, and was a big piece of their bullpen in that first season, posting a 2.92 ERA across 72 innings of work. That team also had Blake Treinen closing out games, but Trivino was a bridge for manager Bob Melvin to get to the ninth.

Trivino struggled in 2019, posting a 5.25 ERA, as Liam Hendriks took over the closer role, but he rebounded nicely in a small sample size in 2020, setting up the A's closer. With Hendriks and Treinen gone in 2021, it was Trivino's turn to be the A's ninth inning guy in 2021, and he shut the door on 22 games, posting a 3.18 ERA with a 48% ground ball rate.

The following year, the A's traded him to the New York Yankees as part of the Frankie Montas deal, and after struggling mightily in Oakland, he excelled with the Yankees the rest of the way, posting a 1.66 ERA in 21 2/3 innings.

After that season, injuries began to pile up and kept him out of the big leagues until this season, when he was signed to a minor-league deal by the San Francisco Giants, headed by his old skipper in Oakland, Bob Melvin. The righty made the Opening Day roster and posted a 5.84 ERA in 12 1/2 innings with the Giants, before the club designated him for assignment in early May.

He rejected the outright assignment and ended up signing with the Dodgers, where he performed a bit better, but still ended up getting DFA'd on July 21. Nearly a week later, he was released by Los Angeles. Today, the Phillies signed him to a minor-league deal, and he could be a useful piece for their club over the coming weeks.

His Baseball Savant page doesn't have many standout qualities from his time in the big leagues this season, but what really sticks out has been his ability to limit hard contact. He ranks in the 94th percentile in average exit velocity (86.8) and the 96th percentile in hard hit rate (32%). He has six pitches, but relies most heavily on his sinker, cutter, and sweeper, which account for nearly 70% of his pitches.

The most effective of the bunch has been his sweeper, which has a .167 batting average against with an expected BAA of just .181.