9 under the radar trade targets the Mets should pursue

Lou Trivino would be a great addition to the Mets’ bullpen.

Trivino is another Oakland A on the trade block who had a great season in 2021. He made 71 appearances, pitching in 73.2 innings, allowing 58 hits, 26 earned runs, 34 walks, and striking out 67 batters. He finished 44 games, getting saves in 22 of those games. He had a 3.18 ERA, 3.78 FIP, 1.25 WHIP, and 0.6 fWAR. 

Despite the good numbers, his Baseball Savant page isn’t impressive. He has a good hard hit rate (85th percentile) and average exit velocity (79th percentile). Other than that, it’s a lot of blue. He doesn’t get swings and misses (29th percentile in whiff rate and 6th percentile in chase rate) and he walks a lot of batters (18th percentile). 

Trivino throws five pitches, a rarity for a late-inning reliever. He throws three fastaballs - a 4-seamer and sinker in the high 90’s, and a cutter in the mid-90’s. He has a mid-80’s changeup and a slow curve in the high 70’s.

One cause for concern is that his spin rates have dropped over the years. His cutter averaged 2,495 RPM’s in 2018, but this year it was down to 2,236. This is the most drastic change, but all of his pitches are down overall.

The 30-year-old has three remaining years of control on his contract. Given his age and his unexciting metrics, I don’t think he’ll be that expensive. Maybe the Mets could look to acquire Trivino and Montas together.