The Mariners announced Friday that they have acquired right-hander Yacksel Rios from the Rays in exchange for cash. He’s not currently on the 40-man roster, having inked a minor league pact with Tampa Bay over the winter.
Of course, that lack of a 40-man roster spot may change quickly. The Mariners have a pair of open spots on their roster, and Rios has been lights-out in Triple-A Durham thus far in 2021. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets that Rios had a June 1 opt-out date in his contract, so this trade quite likely boils down to a matter of the Rays not feeling there’s a spot for him in their current bullpen and helping him land in a situation with a quick and straightforward path to the big leagues.
Rios, who’ll turn 28 later this month, doesn’t have much of a track record in the Majors but has ripped through Triple-A lineups so far in 2021. He’s tossed 13 2/3 innings with Tampa Bay’s top affiliate and yielded just one run on eight hits and two walks with 17 strikeouts, complementing those numbers with a terrific 56.7 percent grounder rate.
Rios has just a 6.36 ERA in 69 1/3 big league innings, so those eye-popping numbers in Triple-A should be taken with a grain of salt. But the hard-throwing righty averages just shy of 96 mph on his heater and has generated a solid 11.9 percent swinging-strike rate during his 66 big league appearances, so it’s certainly possible he has more in the tank. The Mariners entered the season with a fluid bullpen mix in the first place and are currently without Kendall Graveman, Erik Swanson, Casey Sadler, Andres Munoz and Drew Steckenrider, so there should be opportunity for Rios in the near future.
I guess Yakov Smirnoff wasn’t available??
In Russia you sell your Yak. In america your Yacksel you…
This…this is why I come here.
Brilliant
How is Yacksel Rios gonna play baseball and tour with Guns N’ Roses at the same time?
You guys would be big in Branson. At least somebody didn’t dredge up a tired DiPoto joke.
@ rsox You sir just won the internet.
Their GM Neander plays pretty-much at a different level than most other’s in MLB.
Saw today that Shane Baz is lighting things-up in AA.
Seems like they’re doing okay without Snell also..
I love it.
Any time the Rays make a so called, “questionable move”, think again because they usually know something that they’re not saying. They have no choice because of their tiny budget.
Their budget is around $70mil normally & recently with Covid it’s probably closer to around $60mil.
I buy a season ticket plan every year so I am not the reason for the low attendance. The Trop is in southern St Pete miles away from where thousands & thousands of new homes (not counting the many new apartments) that are being built North/East of Tampa & along I75. Expecting some of those people to cram down I275 to attend games would be ludicrous. I now live in Dade City FL where I bought my older house so I guess I am the exception in regards to be willing to drive to games. It’s obvious the Rays dont get many walk up St Pete fans.
I cannot wait for Baz to reach MLB. Future is bright.
As a Pirates fan Baz was the one I was most pissed about being part of the Archer trade.
Jimmy-I did fault NH at the time as he said that the ptbnl would hurt a lot.Then why include him?
GM’s do not know how trades will work out but two high ceiling young players was enough to give up for Archer.
The Baz part was highway robbery.NH should have called the Rays’ bluff and he would have still received the player that he wanted.
Will Baz be one of the few 1st round picks to work out?We will find out.
Wonder when Mariners are going to bring up Kyle Walker from double A. I remember when he was hitting meat missiles at Kean University
I’m a Mariners fan and I’ve never heard of Kyle Walker??
Who? Nobody in the system named Kyle Walker…
And Sidd Finch throws him batting practice…
Kyle Walker from Kean University, google it
Personally as a Mariners fan I’m more excited about them calling up Hiram Bocachica the the kean university product !
Gonna be a while since doesn’t exist.
Yeah, no one named Kyle Walker on the M’s AA Arkansas Travelers… perhaps you mean Kyle Wilcox??
Yeah, no one named Kyle Walker on the M’s AA Arkansas Travelers… perhaps you mean Kyle Wilcox??
No one named Kyle Walker with the M’s AA team. Perhaps you meant Kyle Wilcox?
MrMet says something dumb in every thread. We don’t have a Kyle Walker in our farm system.
Keep wondering… he ain’t on the M’s farm.
Rays with kind of a novel sort of problem: They have too many prospects, and a lot of them are getting close the big leagues and are blocked. They’re gonna have to start turning them into other prospects that are farther away, because they can’t afford to pay anyone who’s better than the guys that play for the big league team now.
Was going to name my son Yacksel, but we decided on Tim at the last minute.
It is the rabbit
Look at the bones!
Thus far in his major league career Rios has managed to be lousy for both Pennsylvania teams.
Does Pennsylvania have any MLB teams?
He has just a 6.36 ERA in 69 and a third innings? I know they went on to say it was bad but whay say just? So many other more fitting words to use. A couple of the top off my head. Lousy crappy take that a bit farther with ****** maybe bad mind numbing. I think you get it. He just threw a 60 mph pitch it was his fastball.
Also I used asterisks myself don’t want to upset the monitor. Those lizards can be nasty.
Rios has solid velocity and decent movement on his pitches so I’m not surprised that different clubs keep giving him chances but he has pretty much never shown the ability to consistently throw strikes which is a pretty important aspect of pitching.
Meanwhile, back at the Tiger ranch…..
BigAl Avila is actually thinking about getting out of bed…….
Hockey pucks have for fun!