The White Sox have signed right-handed reliever Yacksel Rios to a minor league deal, according to the transaction tracker at MLB.com. The ongoing lockout and transaction freeze doesn’t prevent teams and players from agreeing to minor league contracts.
Rios was selected by the Phillies in the 12th round of the of the 2011 draft and made his major league debut with the Phils in 2017. After two-plus seasons in Philly, he was claimed on waivers by the Pirates in 2019 but was outrighted after the 2020 season. 2021 saw Rios sign a minor league deal with the Rays, get traded to Seattle, selected to the big leagues, then traded to Boston.
Overall, Rios has 96 2/3 career innings in the big leagues over the past five seasons, with a 5.77 ERA, 21% strikeout rate and 11.5% walk rate, all of which are a bit worse than league average. He finished 2021 on a fairly positive note, as he had an ERA of 3.70 with the Red Sox over 24 1/3 innings. However, his strikeout and walk rates still held close to his career marks, coming in at 21.4% and 14.3% during that stretch. That coincided with .169 BABIP for Rios during his time with Boston, suggesting that the low ERA likely wasn’t sustainable, and the Red Sox designated him for assignment in September.
Rios, 28, will add some depth for a White Sox bullpen that features a number of high-profile righties, headlined by Liam Hendriks, Craig Kimbrel and recent addition Kendall Graveman.
Fastball averaged 97.1 last year. Lots of triple digit readings. Good pickup as far as AAA depth goes.
Check out some vids of his splitter. More of a knuckle-splitter that averages about 300 rpm and completely drops off the table. Doesn’t throw it much though, and he has control issues with his fastball/sinker. Potentially a good pickup for CHW if he can keep his walks down
I wish he would have signed a minors deal with the Red Sox. Last year he has several outings where he was dominant
Seeing Yacksel Rose.
Sounds like 20/18 vision to me.
Is that like an Axl Rose who vomits all the time?
Mr Bownstone will do that to a person.
The good stuff at least. Or lack of it.
lol too funny…
unfortunately Mr brownstone is no more, he disappeared for good a few years ago and unfortunatly, will most likey never be seen again..
lol too funny…
unfortunately Mr brownstone is no more, he disappeared for good a few years ago and unfortunatly, will most likey never be seen again..
lol too funny…
unfortunately Mr brownstone is no more, he disappeared for good a few years ago and unfortunatly, will most likey never be seen again..
Yackety-yack don’t talk back!
If he ever gets a chance to bat, I hope he walks up to Yackety Sax.
Wow! What a significant signing, how did they ever get this guy? And so cheap! (Eye roll) He must have wanted to be a part of a world class team.
Even cheaper the White Sox live rent free in your head.
Sometimes I think you just need a big hug and kiss, Dogbone. Perhaps one day our paths will cross and I’ll give you a nice warm embrace and tell you everythings gonna be ok. It’s not your fault, son.
Yeah ironhead, I keep hearing how your team is just so dominating, I can’t believe you didn’t even come close to being respectable, come when it counts. But I’m sure you’ll compete again in that AL Central race lol. Good luck.
It seemed the entire team was injured last year and the replacements (Goodwin, Garcia, etc.) carried the weight pretty well. A couple performances (Mercedes, Rodon) that shocked everybody was cool. Now let’s see if Lynn, Gio, Cease, and Kopech are ready for some playoff pitching.
I’m hopeful for a “dominant” season
Comedy gold
Oh dogbone, you big girl, really, an eye roll ? You my friend are so queer , probably from the north side , home of the bu-tt plugs !!!
I disagree with how the White Sox have approached this off-season so tentatively, but your take is just awful, per usual.
I created an account to say that Yacksel Rios was probably the best available player whose first name rhymes with Trachsel.
Yacksel is a sick name hahaha. Say it out loud, it’s fun.
Why did his parents hate him?
Maybe Katz can help him. Wouldn’t be the first time they’ve gotten a reliever off the scrap heap and made him at least playable.
White Sox sign another Cuban – meh it’s what they do.
When can the Sox finalize a deal with Colas?
Hopefully, the lockout doesn’t create a delay!
The freeze on transactions would apply to int’l signings as well. The earliest it can be is sometime in early to mid-January, I think, even if the lockout miraculously ended tmrw.
Wow, even the lockout cannot stop the Sox from making moves to ensure that they will still be the 5th or 6th best team in the American League whenever the season starts. It’s good to have goals.
More to it than signing the AAAA retreads to deals. If Boston thought Rios was worth protecting, he would have been on the 40 man roster, but they didn’t and let him walk over the winter as a MiLB FA and there is more to being able to touch 100mph and sit upper 90’s to be a useful reliever, look at Caleb Simpson, Rios, Jose Adams, Domingo Tapia.. How many of those 100mph guys u ever heard of?
I think you missed the sarcasm in my post. The White Sox have done absolutely nothing to improve their team after looking like they did not belong on the same field with the Astros a few weeks ago. They finished ahead of the Yankees and Redsox by one game, the Jays by two. If they did not have the easiest division and schedule in all of baseball and were in the AL East, they would have finished 5th and not even made the playoffs. They are literally no better than probably the 6th best team in the AL in spite of winning a division. All comes down to an owner whose net worth increased 200 million since 2020, and who continues to be one of the cheapest people on the planet. I was not suggesting that somebody named Yacksel legitimizes them as an elite team, LOL!
@John Silver, not necessarily. Boston could have let him walk to protect younger, higher ceiling prospects over him. He also has lit the world on fire either, but he has been ok at times.
A comp I’ve heard is Jimmy Cordero, and he turned out OK after bouncing around the league in 2019.
That’s what the White Sox need to take them to the next level. Another Jimmy Cordero!
For Yacksel, it was a choice between the White Sox or that Fantasy Writer gig at MLBTR.
@king joffrey- yack, yack, yack! Funny stuff!
As a Pirates fan I only really saw him pitch during his year in Pittsburgh but he was pretty frustrating to watch a couple years ago. Always seemed like his raw stuff was better than his bottom line results primarily due to a lack of control so there is some potential and I hope he figures it all out. Half his appearances he got bombed though because he’d give up a walk or two then groove a couple pitches over the plate to make sure he was throwing strikes and batters would smoke the meatballs.
I hope he throws a Yacker.
I wonder if the White Sox have interest in a Cavan Biggio trade. Another versatile LH bat might be helpful at 2B or RF.
As always, depends on the cost, but I wouldn’t be opposed. He’d certainly be an improvement at 2B over what the Sox currently have. I don’t think he’d be enough of an upgrade in RF to justify pursuing him, though.