The Pirates have claimed Phillies reliever Yacksel Rios, the teams announced Saturday.
Rios, 26, has appeared in 53 games (all in relief) for the Phillies over the last three seasons. He’s flashed consistent bat-missing ability (9.00 career K/9) but has been much too homer-prone (1.96 HR/9) to firmly establish himself among the team’s late-inning options. Rios’ 96.0 average fastball velocity remains prime and perhaps represents fertile clay for new pitching coach Ray Searage to mold, but his shaky command has a long way to go.
Aside from the inimitable Felipe Vazquez, the Pittsburgh pen has been dreadfully short on production of late. Kyle Crick started strong but his again seen his command regress to pre-2018 levels, and neither Richard Rodriguez nor the volatile Keone Kela have been able to reprise past-year performances. Rios, it would seem, should be afforded a long look at some point.
Another gem by the Pirates
He is a space filler with the Kela and Crick suspensions still coming. In case you have not noticed a lot of teams have made similar claims over the last week to help with minor league depth….smh….
Can we stop praising Ray Searage? His magic no longer works. Now pitchers are better when they leave Pittsburgh. Cole, Morton, Glasnow, and now even Nick Kingham is showing improvement in Toronto. It makes no sense to me how Hurdle/Searage/Huntington are not on the hot seat. Yes, 2013-15 were great times, but they’re gone. Time to move on.
Almost every Pirates fan is currently thinking the same thing. The local media seemingly have daily conversations as to if they will be fired after the season, and fans are fed up with the awful trades, decisions, and lack of spending made by the team. Huntington is doing what he can with his budget, and Eckstein has done a great job of turning around Josh Bell and developing Kevin Newman, but Hurdle and Searage have nothing going for them. They have to go eventually, it’s just a ticking time bomb at this point.
The local media has had daily conversations on every show pushing to have not only the Pirates front office,and coaching staff fired but also the Steelers and now Penguins too. Can’t listen any more. They have been doing it since the last Super Bowl win for the Steelers and since the Pens did not Threepeat. They do nothing but complain and talk about all the bad moves that have been made real or imagined and pick a couple of targets among the players that must be run out of town no matter if they are playing well or not.
“Time to move on” to who?
Who do you think Nutting would hire?
Ray Searage’s reputation is bigger than the accomplishment! Look at come now and come with searage for example. No faith that Pirates can develop much talent!
Kela hasn’t given up a run since april. since coming back from injury hes been lights out.. hes got other issues obviously.. but hes doing rather well.
Rodriguez has given one run since the start of June.
just saying…
The writer clearly did not do his homework as RR was awful before demotion and great since it.
Kela has been lights out since coming back.
Even Crick has been good the last two weeks but he was very bad after April.He should have been optioned like RR was.These guys need to throw strikes in the ML.
Always important to check the recent stats before finalizing an article.
He’ll pitch a few innings then get dfa’d
Rodriguez deserves some love. One run in his last 25 innings pitched. Give him a break!
Thank God!
~ Phillies fan
More importantly, how much will it cost to keep Yacksel on the roster for the rest of the year?
“More importantly, how much will it cost to keep Yacksel on the roster for the rest of the year?”
Slightly more than the minimum. With that being said though he’s a good dude. I’m hoping this move is good for his career.
Another scrap heap dumpster dive by Pittsburgh’s finest. Rios gives up the home-run ball as he can’t throw strikes and sends pitches right in the wheel house, so he’ll fit right in with the rest.
Wouldn’t want Neil to bring up a young arm and risk losing a year off that cheap contract.
Coincidentally “Yack” is what many Pirates fans feel like doing after watching many of the pitchers pitch.
Wow, Rodriguez has a huge gap between ERA and FIP.