SF Giants call up young pitcher while cutting ties with veteran reliever

The SF Giants have made their first non-injury related transaction to the big league roster this season as they have promoted the young left-handed pitcher Kyle Harrison to the big leagues while designating veteran reliever Lou Trivino for assignment.

SF Giants promote Kyle Harrison, DFA Lou Trivino

Up to this point, the Giants had only made transactions when players got injured. When infielder Casey Schmitt had to go on the IL, David Villar was recalled from Triple-A. Similarly, when infielder Tyler Fitzgerald had to go on the IL recently with a cracked rib, Brett Wisely was recalled.

The Harrison promotion is the first move that has been made based on performance and it is not difficult to understand why. Harrison has been looking really good in Triple-A as of late. His velocity is up and he has struck out 38 batters in 26 innings for the River Cats with a 3.46 ERA.

Conversely, Trivino has been fine for the Giants but he was not adding much to the bullpen. He had a 5.84 ERA in 12 and 1/3 innings on the season with the bulk of his damage coming in an outing against the Milwaukee Brewers in which he gave up five earned runs.

The Giants signed him to a minor league contract earlier this year and he earned a spot on the big league roster thanks to a strong spring training as well as the familiarity manager Bob Melvin had with him dating back to their time together in Oakland when Trivino was Melvin's closer for several years.

It seemed like the Giants were mainly using Trivino in low-leverage situations as of late so there was not much point keeping him on the big league roster while letting Harrison go to waste in Triple-A. The Giants already have Spencer Bivens for that role so having both him and Trivino on the roster felt a bit redundant.

San Francisco plans to use Harrison out of the bullpen at least initially. Now the Giants have another left-handed reliever in their bullpen alongside Erik Miller. Perhaps if Harrison proves to be solid in the bullpen he could earn a spot in the rotation although Hayden Birdsong has certainly earned the first shot at a promotion to the bullpen if there is an injury or if a change is needed.

Nonetheless, it will certainly feel nice for Harrison to be back with the Giants after the disappointment of starting the year in Triple-A. The fact that he went to the minors and got better without getting discouraged speaks to his character and bodes well for his chance to make an impact on the Giants this season.