It’s hard to get excited about a hand-me-down.
Make no mistake about it, that’s exactly what Alex Rios is to the White Sox, who acquired him on waivers Monday. Yet acquiring Rios looks like an excellent move by one of baseball’s most resourceful front offices.
Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi let the 28-year-old outfielder go for nothing to free up the roughly $62 million remaining on Rios’ contract.
Given the talk around Chicago, the Rios waiver claim Friday confused Sox fans more than excited them. It didn’t help that the club wasn’t able to say anything while the process played out. Here’s a primer that may make it easier to understand.
Rios is Torii Hunter Lite, the power-plus-speed free agent acquisition the Sox hadn’t been able to pull off. And by getting him on waivers from a club with major payroll problems, instead of as a free agent, the Sox do not lose a first- or second-round draft pick in the process.
The upside:
Rios should become the every-day center fielder the Sox have been missing since they traded Aaron Rowand to the Phillies after the 2005 World Series. He has mostly been a right fielder in Toronto but only because the franchise icon, Vernon Wells, plays center. Rios has better range and a better arm than almost all of the 14 players Ozzie Guillen has used in center since Rowand.
With Wells injured, he started 59 games in center last season. He has a career 2.7 range factor at the position, which currently would rank him eighth among the 21 big-leaguers who have played at least 73 games in center this season. The 2.86 he put up in 2008 would rank sixth this season, behind only the Twins’ Carlos Gomez, the Orioles’ Adam Jones, Hunter, the Reds’ Willy Taveras and the Mariners’ Franklin Gutierrez.
Rios’ offensive numbers have dipped since he was given the seven-year contract in April 2008 but not drastically. He’s hitting .264 this season but is on pace for 21 homers, 92 RBIs and 28 stolen bases. He could have a 30-30 season or two at U.S. Cellular Field
He’s four years younger than Hunter was when he turned down a Sox offer to sign a five-year, $90 million deal with the Angels in November 2007. Rios’ contract is guaranteed through 2014, with an option for ’15. He would be older than 32 — the Bill James line of performance regression — only for the last guaranteed season.
Rios makes the Sox better now and in the future.
It’s unclear how Guillen will use him immediately, given the unexpected contribution from Scott Podsednik in center, but Rios can play all three outfield spots. He adds insurance for the ongoing division race with Detroit — invaluable given Carlos Quentin’s injury history — and gives Guillen the same kind of flexibility he had with Ken Griffey Jr. last September.
His addition may mean the Sox don’t retain Jermaine Dye and Jim Thome for 2010, but if they kept them both — a concept I just endorsed given they’re on pace for 197 RBIs combined — they could be looking at replacing both of them and first baseman Paul Konerko after next season.
The downside:
Five-and-a-half seasons is a long time. The Sox assume financial risk with the contract, as they did when they traded for Jake Peavy.
Guillen (and GM Ken Williams) will have to keep the heads of Podsednik, Dye, Thome and Dewayne Wise on straight as they try to absorb the implications of a Rios pickup at a time when they’re under pressure to keep Detroit in sight.
Rios is a hard guy to walk. He has hit .285 in his six big league seasons but has never walked more than 55 times, leaving him with a lower career on-base percentage (.335) than Podsednik (.339).
– – – %% Rios by Career 2009 At Cell the numbers: (5+ yrs.) (436 ABs) (15 gms.)
Batting avg. .285 .264 .273
On-base pct. .335 .317 .339
Home runs 81 14 2
RBIs 395 62 8
Walks 224 31 6
Strikeouts 567 78 6
%% ———
progers@tribune.com
What do you think?
Sox fans, are you excited to have Alex Rios heading to the South Side, or do you think his big contract will strap the Sox in the future? Vote at chicagotribune. com/soxpoll
