The LG Twins shuffled their Kbo bullpen on June 2, signing right-hander Yacksel Rios and releasing fellow right-hander Yonny Chirinos in a move reported at 4:22 p.m. CDT. Rios, 32, gives LG another arm to work with in Korea, while Chirinos’ roster spot is gone after a difficult first half.
The timing matters because both pitchers were already in motion before the deal became public. Rios had been with the Cubs organization and was released earlier in the week, with the MiLB.com transaction log reflecting that move. The Twins are also expected to send a nominal cash sum to Chicago for granting him his release, and the club will even cater a Korean lunch for the Cubs’ front office as part of the compensation. It is the kind of transaction that moves quietly in the background until it suddenly changes a bullpen’s shape, not unlike a late roster shift before a big night, whether it is a playoff push, a summer call-up, or a headline-grabbing event such as Harry Solo Night La: Prince Harry attends José Andrés cookbook launch.
Rios arrives with modest but real major league experience. He has exactly 100 MLB innings, a 6.21 ERA across stints with the Phillies, Pirates, Mariners, Red Sox and A’s, and he averaged 98 mph on his four-seamer during his brief look with the Cubs in 2026. In Des Moines, he worked to a 4.24 ERA over 17 2/3 innings and sat 96.6 mph, while his full Triple-A track record stands at a 4.14 ERA in parts of five seasons. He also threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings for Chicago this year.
That profile helps explain why LG views him as a candidate to compete for closing opportunities. The Twins are not handing him the ninth inning on arrival. They are asking him to take it. That is a different proposition, and it says as much about the league’s churn as any front-office memo, whether the move is a roster tweak, a hiring cut like the one in Intuit Layoffs: Maker of TurboTax, QuickBooks to Cut About 3,000 Jobs, or a fight card slot such as Jaqueline Amorim listed to open UFC Macau prelims against Loma Lookboonmee.
Chirinos, also 32, is the one paying for the change. He was in his second season with the Twins and had been far more effective in his first year overseas, when he posted a 3.31 ERA over 177 innings. This season never came close to matching that standard. In eight starts and 33 2/3 innings, he put up a 6.68 ERA, allowed 47 hits and 14 walks, and was hit by pitch four times.
For LG, the choice is blunt. The Twins are betting that Rios’ velocity and bullpen experience can help now, while Chirinos’ second Korea stint ends with numbers that left little room to stay. What remains unresolved is how quickly Rios becomes part of the late-inning picture and whether he can hold that closing-track role once he gets the chance.
