The Mets have officially designated a right-hander Jorge López by share, the step reported yesterday. Left hand Danny Young he was recalled to have replaced Lopez in the accompanying move.
The Mets have been in a tough spot lately, losing three in a row and eight of their last 10, and the frustration seemed to boil over for López yesterday. After allowing a home run Shohei Ohtanihe was facing Freddie Freeman when a checked swing appeal to third resulted in a no-swing call. López apparently said something to third base umpire Ramon De Jesus and was sent off. As he left the field, he took off his shirt and threw his glove into the stands. Video shared on X by SNY.
After the game, López spoke to the media, although there was some confusion about what he said and what he intended. López, a native of Puerto Rico, spoke in English and some believe he called the Mets “the worst team in all of F***ing MLB” while others heard him call himself the “worst teammate” in the league. Later that night, it was reported that López would be chosen for the assignment.
Today, López seemed unhappy with the way things had gone the day before. He posted on his Instagram stories this morning, saying that he was definitely “partner” and sarcastically thanking the media for making the situation worse. Anthony DiComo of MLB.com posted on X this morning that López losing his roster spot has nothing to do with team/teammate confusion, saying López has “let the organization down with his actions and words, throwing his glove in the stands, lying in meetings and management and never regret.”
Reporters from López's previous clubs defended him today, trying to give more context to the striker's frustrations. Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Sun shared this story from 2022, when López was with the Orioles. This article is about the recent death of López's grandfather and López's son Mikael, who has suffered from several autoimmune diseases since birth and has spent most of his life in the hospital. Dan Hayes of The Athletic shared this story from last summer, when the Twins placed López on the injured list for a mental health break. Boomer Esiason addressed this issue on his show today, as relayed by Awful Announcing on X, and said he was informed that Mikael is currently waiting for another transplant.
More information certainly makes it easier to understand how López did the way he did, but it seems the Mets don't consider that an acceptable excuse. Some observers suggested that the Mets could have placed López on the IL for mental health reasons, as the Twins did last year, but they decided to take a different approach and remove the righty from their roster.
The Mets will now have one week to trade López or place him off waivers. In the latter case, López has the right to decline the outright assignment and opt for free agency while holding on to the remainder of his $2MM salary, as a player with more than five years of major league service.
He has gone 26 1/3 innings with the Mets this year, allowing a 3.76 earned run average per nine innings. His 17.1% strikeout rate is low but his 9.9% walk rate and 44.2% groundball rate are both around league average.
He had breakout seasons as a reliever with the O's in 2022. After years of slow work as a starter, the move to the bullpen seemed to open something up in the right direction. In 48 1/3 innings with Baltimore, he had a 1.68 ERA, a 27.6% strikeout rate, an 8.7% walk rate and a 60% ground ball rate.
That year's deadline was thrown to the Twins, but his results have been the same since then. He had a 4.37 ERA with Minnesota after the deal in 2022, then a 5.95 ERA in 2023, before jumping to the Marlins and Orioles later in the year. The IO's cut him at the end of the year, freeing him to sign with the Mets.
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