The Athletics shut injured reliever Blake Treinen down for the regular season last week, but the hope then was that he’d return from the stress reaction in his back for a potential playoff run. That’s now out of the question, though, as Treinen’s officially done for the year, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Meanwhile, fellow righty reliever Lou Trivino is “likely” finished for 2019 as a result of a cracked rib, according to Slusser. Trivino suffered the injury when he slipped in his shower earlier this month.
While Treinen and Trivino were two of the Athletcs best relievers just a year ago (the former was historically good), they don’t look like enormous losses for the hard-charging A’s this season. Neither has pitched in a couple weeks, and when the two have taken the mound, they’ve been anything but lights-out.
It’s especially surprising how much the 31-year-old Treinen declined this season. Treinen notched an otherworldly 0.78 ERA (1.82 FIP) across 80 1/3 innings in 2018, when he also posted 11.2 K/9 with 2.35 BB/9 and converted 38 of 43 save chances. But everything trended the wrong way in 2019 for Treinen, whom injuries helped limit to 58 2/3 innings of 4.91 ERA/5.15 FIP ball with 9.05 K/9 and 5.68 BB/9. He also blew five of his 21 save attempts and lost his spot as the A’s closer to Liam Hendriks.
Now, it’s up in the air whether Treinen has thrown his final pitch as an Athletic. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams pointed out last week, Oakland will face an offseason decision on whether to tender Treinen a contract for next year. He earned $6.4MM this season and will collect a raise over that figure if he makes his last trip through arbitration over the winter.
There are no such financial concerns with Trivino, who’s still in the pre-arb phase. The 27-year-old wasn’t the dominant force Treinen was in 2018, but Trivino more than held his own as a rookie setup man. Trivino didn’t offer particularly valuable results this year, however, as he struggled to a 5.25 ERA/4.54 FIP with 8.55 K/9 and 4.65 BB/9 over 60 frames.
if Oakland doesn’t want to pay treinen in arbitration which very well may be the case they can still get something for him in a trade
They can and they will.
Oh no don’t pull a Dubas
I mean Beane has always had a penchant for taking chances on rebound free agents with the hopes of either aiding a playoff run at a discount or picking up extra prospects at the deadline (see: Ben Sheets), so Treinen shouldn’t be any different
Because they throw several similar pitches at similar velocities, and both had control problems I have been wondering if the new lower seam slicker ball might be effecting them both. Although Treinen was looking pretty good to start the year then got hurt and never got back on track.
Slipped in the shower after the dog ate his homework?
Exactly. It blows my mind how many “world class” athletes slip in the shower or stumble on the stairs.
80 innings is simply too much for a reliever in one season…..
80’s relievers just laughed.
And why do players get raises in arbitration when they have a terrible season?
The A’s can file a low figure but if Treinen’s figure is closer to pay for a comparable reliever (and there are lots of not so great comparably inconsistent relievers making very good money) he will get his figure.
Because in the past, they did have a good season – its a body of work, not 1-year sample scales.
So crazy that Treinen, Trivino, Davis, Piscotty & Pinder were all largely terrible for the A’s this year after all were producing more last year, and this year they’re pushing 100 wins with all those guys being terrible. Baseball = weird.