The Cubs have outrighted infielder Edwin Rios, according to Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune. There had been no previous indication that Rios had been designated for assignment. Chicago’s 40-man roster drops to 39 as a result of the move. Rios has the requisite service time to reject an outright assignment, but would forfeit the remainder of his $1MM salary in doing so.
A sixth-round pick by the Dodgers in the 2015 draft, Rios made his big league debut with the club in 2019 and thrived in a bench role with LA, slashing a phenomenal .260/.338/.634 in 139 plate appearances across his first two seasons in the majors. The following two seasons, however, weren’t as fruitful. From 2021-22, Rios battled hamstring and shoulder injuries while slashing just .183/.263/.365 in 152 plate appearances. That combination of injuries and ineffectiveness led the Dodgers to non-tender Rios this past offseason.
Upon departing LA Rios joined the Cubs, who signed him to a $1MM major league deal in hopes of Rios providing lefty power off the bench for the club. Things didn’t go according to plan for Rios or Chicago, however, as the now 29-year-old slugger slashed just .071/.235/.214 with a massive 47.1% strikeout rate in 34 trips to the plate. That performance was enough for the Cubs to demote Rios to Triple-A for most of the 2023 campaign despite the small sample size.
Now, more than a month removed from Rios’s last big league appearance, he’s off the 40-man roster entirely. Assuming he opts to accept his outright assignment in order to retain the remainder of his salary, Rios figures to serve as a depth bench option for the Cubs’ infield, though he’s blocked by the likes of Matt Mervis and Miles Mastrobuoni, both of whom are already on the 40-man roster.
Clearing a roster spot for a trade.
Not related to the article but the Blue Jays just removed their #19 prospect(MLB.com) Leo Jimenez from the AA lineup. Wonder what they have in the works
They acquired Jordan Hicks
A precursor to acquiring Verlander.
With this DFA, the Cubs now have an opening on their 40-man roster in order to accommodate a trade deadline addition. Make it so, Jed!
No baloney, if someone raises cane, they can blame it on Rios
Hahahaha….thank you for the laughs Manny…love it, haha haha
I hope Yohnathan Perlaza is added to the 40 man roster.
I suspect that he’s a prime trade candidate to a team such as Washington or Kansas City as part of a package for a reliever. He’s pretty much the #7 OF right now: Bellinger, Happ, Suzuki, Tauchman, Morel, Velasquez. And that doesn’t even include Canario or Davis.
That said, I think he deserves a shot somewhere. Look at some of the prospects traded during 2016-2017, such as Candelario and Paredes.
And Ravis can’t stay healthy unfortunately. So no one is gonna want him.
Yankees could use a LH 3B with some pop. He couldn’t do any worse than Donaldson.
Yet surprisingly Rios has…
Something is cooking
Every season is sacred.
Trust the process.
Platitudes are boring.
Am I missing something here? No one wants Rios. He’s cleared waivers. This is about opening a spot for a reliever that’s coming in a swap for someone that’s in the Cubs farm system. Cubs are content to allow Rios to report to Iowa as a depth piece for the rest of the season. They have no current use for him as did all of the other teams that could have claimed him.
They aren’t going to lose him ,if he decides to become a free agent he forfeits a lot of money
Phenomenal? .260 is phenomenal? “Slashing .183 and .071? Please use better adjectives.
I think slashing refers to the slash marks between the percentages
Any chance that the Cubs opened up a spot on the 40 man for a player they acquire for Stroman?
Edwin Rios? I actually forgot all about this guy,