It’s MLB All-Star Week, and that means the MLB Trade Deadline is looming. So it’s time to take a look at some of the key names that the Yankees can acquire to bolster their championship contending roster. We spoke a lot about the Yankees’ trade deadline needs on last week’s Podcast episode of ‘NYY Takes,’ which you can listen to here.
One of the areas that is in need of some help is the bullpen.
A couple of days ago I wrote about Daniel Bard, who is perhaps one of the best relief pitchers in baseball at the moment. Today, though, it’s all about the Yankees’ trade deadline need for Lou Trivino.
Trivino, a fifth-year relief pitcher for the Oakland Athletics, is having his worst season as a big league pitcher. At least, that’s what the results would tell you. He sports a 6.58 ERA with a .386 wOBA.
But the expected numbers are nice, and on par with the rest of his solid career numbers. Despite the 6.58 ERA and .386 wOBA, Trivino’s Expected ERA is 3.99, while his expected weighted on-base average is .312.
Trivino is currently sporting the highest K% of his career at 28.9% as well as the lowest BB% of his career at 9.6%.
So why the poor results? Well, he is currently suffering from a ridiculous .468 BABIP. For reference, average batting average on balls in play is around .300. So, Trivino is getting unlucky, and we see why there’s such a discrepancy between his ERA and his Expected ERA. His xFIP is also at 2.99.
Whatever Lou Trivino did to the baseball Gods, he’d be wise to not do it again.
Let’s just use his most used pitched as an example, the Sinker. The average launch angle hitters have against the Sinker this season is -5, compared to 4 last season. That goes along with an average exit velocity of 85.3 MPH, compared to 88 MPH last season. On the surface, you’d think that would be a great pitch for Trivino. And it is, but he hasn’t gotten the results he’s looking for.
Hitters are batting .486 against his Sinker with a .510 wOBA. But the Expected batting average (given quality of contact) is .303 with a xwOBA of .369. So his sinker has gotten more effective, but he’s just running into some misfortune.
Trivino also added a new pitch mid-season, his Slider, in May. Hitters have a sub .100 batting average against this pitch, and it’s a thing of beauty. He’s also woven it into his pitch mix seamlessly this season.
Whoa. That's the most horizontal movement of any of the almost 4,000 MLB pitches Lou Trivino has thrown. š® https://t.co/WmJU6DKHBA
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) May 24, 2022
Trivino is an interesting relief arm in that he uses a variety of pitches. His pitch mix consists of a Sinker (31.4%), 4-Seam Fastball (23.7%), Slider (14.8 %), Cutter (13.1%), Changeup (12.7%) and a Curveball (4.2%). Trivino is arbitration eligible through the 2024 season, which will likely make him a bit pricier in the market. The Athletics know how good he is, they won’t be fooled by the results.
With that said, there’s a good chance the A’s move him at the deadline, and he’d be a great addition to a currently thin Yankees bullpen.
