THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — Rocking his trademark shades, a leather jacket and designer jeans, Alex Rios strode into the clubhouse at the Rogers Centre, cellphone glued to his ear, just like old times.
Only Monday, the centre-fielder who became a lightning rod for frustrated Toronto Blue Jays fans entered the visitors room with the Chicago White Sox, the team that claimed him on waivers last summer and is hoping it didn’t make a US$60 million mistake in doing so.
Rios greeted some familiar faces, suited up, and later paid a visit to the home clubhouse, to see some old friends. The 29-year-old, shocked by the change last year, has firmly turned the page.
"It was a little frustrating but it’s baseball, things like that are going to happen," he later told a scrum before facing his old team. "Now it’s time to move on.
"It’s a fresh start, I just wiped last year from my mind. From now on, it’s something new."
Manager Ozzie Guillen insisted that despite a slow start, Rios was swinging the bat really well and it showed in Monday’s 8-7, 11-inning win over the Blue Jays. Through relentless boos at his every move and some loud "You suck, Rios" chants, he was 3-for-5 with a run scored and a stolen base to push his average up to .250.
"I wasn’t surprised," he said of the booing. "They were loud, but that’s a good thing, it gets you going."
The White Sox are counting on him to be significantly better than he was after joining them last year. He batted .199 with three homers and nine RBIs in 41 games and looked like a disaster.
"He couldn’t play worse than last year for us. He couldn’t. Even if he tried this year, he can’t," said Guillen. "It was one of the worst I’d ever seen — I’m just being honest. But I don’t blame him. I predicted last year when the season was over Alex was going to be a different ball player.
"He’s got a lot of confidence, he knows everyone here, it’s not easy when you get traded from the team you grew up with to the city of Chicago."
The parting of ways was easier for the Blue Jays, who wanted to get out of the near $60 million left on the $69.8-million, seven-year deal given to Rios by former general manager J.P. Ricciardi. As new GM Alex Anthopoulos put it, "if the contract was not in place I think he’d still be here."
The move didn’t bother Toronto fans, who soured on Rios after the two-time all-star underachieved once he signed his big deal. He was also caught on video cursing at a heckling fan after a team function to further sully his image.
He was booed often last year and was booed at every opportunity Monday. He sarcastically tipped his cap to the crowd during pre-game introductions as his teammates smirked, and Guillen pumped his fists in the air as the jeers began, clearly revelling in it.
"Tell the fans in Toronto, Alex is in Toronto, all you guys come and boo him," Guillen said beforehand. "Just come here and boo Alex Rios for four days, please. We need people in this ball park, we haven’t seen that many fans here the last three or four years.
"This time come out at least to boo him."
Rios insisted any ill feelings on his part are in the past, as are the mechanical experiments he made to his batting stance the previous two seasons he says muddled him at the plate.
Both Gary Denbo and Gene Tenace were behind those switches and White Sox hitting coach Greg Walker told Rios to simplify things. He widened his stance and feels better in the box.
"I was trying to change my stance too many times and when you do that it makes things worse, you get in a deeper hole," Rios said. "When I started hitting this off-season I just wanted to stand there and see how it’s going to be.
"It felt good going back to basics and that’s how I’m going to keep it."
Helping his mental state too is that he’s avoiding the rebuilding in Toronto and playing for a contender in the White Sox.
Overall, he’s happy.
"You want to be on a team that’s going to have a shot to be in the playoffs," Rios said. "I’ve never been in the playoffs and I know it’s going to be a great experience if we make it.
"I’m happy with (the move)."
