Rios Claimed Off Waivers

[UNHWildCats]

No word on who the claiming team is, but it's likely Toronto may not pull back Rios and just let the claiming team have him and his expensive contract.

If I had to guess I would say the Yankees or Red Sox are the most likely to have claimed him.

Boston is hurting in the OF right now with Drew battling on again off again pains and Bay who is out for atleast the Yankees series.

Boston could use Rios as an insurance policy should Bay no sign beyond this season, should Bay stay, Rios could be a 4th OF/split time DH next season before taking over RF from drew the following season.

The Yankees could also use Rios in their OF where they currently have Damon, Hinske, Cabrera and Swisher.

[UNHWildCats]

MLB source says Red Sox are not the team.

[UNHWildCats]

High ranking Mets official says it wasn't them.

[ISUMatt]

Tigers maybe?

[UNHWildCats]

Tigers maybe?
I keep reading White Sox and Giants.... Do you think Chicago would pick up that much money?

[ISUMatt]

MASN said White Sox...it was an AL team...Kenny will take the cntract straight up, probably wont trade much for it though...Sox will have Dye, Thome, Contreras coming off the books (about 35-40 mil worth there) so they could actually afford it...Kenny Williams is a gambler so I can see it...but then Id wonder who that bumps out of the lineup, probably Pods, or Q is going back to the Dl but he has looked good lately

[ISUMatt]

If I'm Kenny, I probably make a claim on Rios. He's overpaid, but not grossly. Worst case scenario is you get stuck with a big contract, but even then the Sox have money freeing up next season and Rios is a very useful player. If Ricciardi comes to you and tries to negotiate a trade, I think you offer him a non-prospect or two and if that won't do it, you move on having successfully kept a pretty good player from falling into any other contenders hands.

The way J.P. is talking about this, I feel like he's going to try to save face. He'll try to work out a trade and then, once he fails, he'll say that the Jays would never let someone of Rios' ability go for free. But they probably should.

Looking at next year's free agents, and even after 2010, there aren't a lot of options for the sox to spend their money on. It makes sense to spend on a guy like Rios who has had a very good track record of performance. That's why the Peavy deal also made sense.

[ISUMatt]

Steve Goffman on his facebook said that the Blue Jays TV flagship confirmed it was the Sox that claimed him.

[ISUMatt]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4384253