Cuban pitcher continues sailing in unclear waters
Roenis Elías’ adventures have not stopped, or the ordeals moving from one MLB franchise to another without getting anywhere. They do not just make him official in the roster as a regular pitcher. Since he threw himself into the sea pursuing the dream of playing in Major League Baseball, his quest for a better life on the best world baseball field has been overshadowed by physical lessons that do not let him shine like the star he is. Now, a new transaction has just been made and the Cuban will once again return to the Seattle Mariners, who had precisely exchanged him to the Red Sox.
Roenis Elías will come back to Seattle, the team that discovered and signed him. Elías arrived to the Mariners in 2015 as part of a package for which the New England franchise offered Wade Miley and Jonathan Aro, believing the Cuban player could help them a lot in several matches as a pitcher. Elías rewarded Seattle with a first contest of 10 wins but during 2015 winter meetings he was traded to the Red Sox and there started his health problems.
Jerry Dipto, manager of the Mariners, announced that in exchange the Red Sox will receive a player yet to be defined or money compensation. According to the franchise, the Cuban pitcher will be playing with the Mariners' triple-A team while the big team is full; however, according to several scouts, the Cuban has a powerful arm and talent to get it to the major league team. Since April 3, 2014, when he started his MLB career against the Tigers, the young Caribbean player pitched 280 innings with 244 strikeouts, 114 walks and a 4.20 ERA in 55 games, 50 of them as a starter.
Although a good future for Elías in the Red Sox was foreseen, it never happened. The constant lessons and muscular discomfort invalidated his performance in the matches. During the last two springs, Elias' name was sure to integrate the Red Sox’s roster, either as a substitute or occasional starter, but he could never make the big team consistently. Pains in the oblique muscles made impossible for him outstand within the legendary Boston’s Red Sox. In contrast, during his stay in Boston he averaged 12.38 earned runs in four games.
The other gigantic waves that Elías faced, in addition to the real ones he experienced to arrive to Mexico from Cuba, were those lived in Aztec lands, where after a long struggle playing for several teams he entered a program to be evaluated by the talent hunters. In 2011 the Mariners were interested in the Cuban, who since then started in the minors.
The Cuban player is 5'11 and weighs 197 pounds, and was most of the 2017 season in the list Boston lessoned players, but in the current campaign he has had a solid demonstration in the Triple A, with Pawtucket, where he pitched 7 innings and one third, with 9 strikeouts, 2 bases on ball, one victory and one saved games in 4 performances.