Yankees Decline Club Option On Lou Trivino

The Yankees announced that they declined their $5MM club option on Lou Trivino’s services for the 2025 season.  No buyout was attached to the option, and the 33-year-old reliever will now head to the open market.

Trivino hasn’t pitched in the majors since Game 3 of the 2022 ALCS, as he suffered an elbow sprain during the following Spring Training and then underwent a Tommy John surgery in May 2023.  He returned to the mound to toss 11 minor league innings in New York’s organization this season, though he dealt with elbow inflammation that delayed the start of his rehab work, and then some shoulder soreness brought an early end to his 2024 season.

The Yankees non-tendered Trivino last offseason and then re-signed the righty to a $1.5MM guaranteed contract with the $5MM option for 2025.  These types of contracts for pitchers recovering from major arm surgeries have become fairly common around the league, as the Bombers were betting that Trivino would get healthy and show enough to put himself into the club’s plans for next season.  However, Trivino’s continued health concerns made it a pretty easy call for New York to move on.  Another contract with the Yankees wouldn’t be a surprise, if the team still has interest in Trivino but simply at a lower price point than $5MM.

Trivino has a 3.86 ERA over 284 2/3 MLB innings, with 263 of those innings coming with the Athletics from 2018-21.  The A’s dealt Trivino and Frankie Montas to the Yankees in a prominent deal at the 2022 trade deadline, and Trivino had a 1.66 ERA in his first 21 2/3 frames in the pinstripes, as well as 3 2/3 scoreless innings in the 2022 playoffs.