Dodgers swipe high-upside veteran reliever from waiver wire after Giants' decision

The Los Angeles Dodgers have halted a familiar face's journey through the waiver process by claiming righty Lou Trivino after the San Francisco Giants decided they'd seen enough.

Trivino elected free agency on Friday evening, resisting an assignment to the minors with the Giants, and regained the ability to control his destiny. After several injury-plagued years following a 2022 season split between the Yankees and A's (to say the least), he returned to a big-league mound for 11 games this season with San Francisco, allowing eight earned runs in 12 1/3 innings.

The right-hander is known for a bowling ball sinker, which he commanded to electric effect with the A's in his standout seasons in 2018 (his rookie year) and 2021. He compiled over 1.0+ bWAR in both campaigns.

Now, he'll head to Triple-A Oklahoma City to give the Dodgers some much-needed experienced insurance for their beleaguered bullpen. If Trivino is able to rebound and harness his stuff, he'll likely replace Matt Sauer and Co. on the 'pen ladder.

Dodgers claim righty reliever Lou Trivino off waivers after Giants' DFA decision

The Dodgers cannot afford to be picky right now when it comes to bullpen options. Even if they're not in love with the 2025 version of Trivino, it's still very much in LA's best interest to gather assets and work out the remainder later.

Adding Trivino makes the loss of Yoendrys Gómez to the Chicago White Sox sting a little bit less, in the interest of keeping the Dodgers' options open. Of course, the one thing Trivino doesn't solve in any capacity is the dearth of lockdown high-leverage arms in LA's stable. Losing Evan Phillips was the latest gut punch, and Michael Kopech's attempted return at Triple-A has not gone according to plan thus far.

The Dodgers' plan, only a month and a half into the season, already looks more improvisational than stable, and adding Trivino - without making an MLB roster commitment to him - falls right in line with their current reality of building the plane as they're already in motion. It worked last year. Perhaps it will again, in less-than-ideal-but-still-fairly-predictable circumstances.