A’s roster moves: Lou Trivino reinstated, no players remain on COVID IL

The Oakland A’s no longer have any players on the COVID-related injured list.

The A’s reinstated pitcher Lou Trivino and utilityman Drew Jackson from the COVID list on Tuesday, the team announced. They were the last of eight Oakland players who went into the health protocols during April.

Trivino went on the COVID IL on April 18, and missed 13 games over 15 days while he was out. He made one rehab appearance in the minors on Monday before this activation. His return means a COVID substitute player must go back to Triple-A, and infielder Nick Allen was the final remaining active sub, so Allen heads to Las Vegas.

Players can only be optioned to the minors five times per season, but this move does not count as one of Allen’s options for 2022 because it happened under a special set of COVID rules. However, he was already on the 40-man roster before being called on as a COVID sub, so he remains on the 40-man now, and 2022 will surely count as one of his option years (of which players get three before being “out of options”).

Meanwhile, Jackson was also an emergency COVID substitute, except he later went on the COVID list too. At that point he was effectively the substitute for himself, so when he was reinstated today he simultaneously obviated the need for his services as a substitute, because the player he was replacing (himself) was no longer on the COVID list. Therefore he immediately went back to the minors. He was only on the 40-man roster temporarily for COVID purposes, so he is now removed from that list but did not need to pass through waivers to do so because of the special rules.

Got all that? Baseball transactions get more complicated every year!

The important takeaways: Trivino is back in Oakland, Allen and Jackson are back in Triple-A Las Vegas, and the team’s COVID list is finally empty after a barrage of April absences.

Thus concludes our first look at Allen, a top prospect who made his long-awaited MLB debut two weeks ago. He played eight games while here, going 4-for-19 at the plate with a couple doubles and a stolen base. In the field his highly rated defense was a bit shaky with a few errors, but he did make an incredible play running 115 feet to catch a popup.

Here’s the updated 26-man roster. Another transaction should come Sunday, when Ramon Laureano is due to be activated from the Suspended List.