The Cubs and Veteran Infielder Nicky Lopez Agreed to a Minor League contract during the weekend, as indicated first On the Milb.com -Transactielogboek. Last week opted for a Minor League deal with the Yankees last week and quickly returned for what is now a third period with the CUBS organization this season alone. Lopez was already back in the line-up with the Triple-a affiliate of the Cubs yesterday.
Lopez signed a Minor League deal with Chicago in February. He did not make the main class selection in the camp and took himself in his deal, after which he drew a Major League pact with the Angels. That turned out to be a short -lived stint, with Lopez who only lasted five games before they were broken off. After cleaning up exemptions, Lopez signed a major League deal with the Cubs and appeared in 14 games of the bank before he was again designated for assignment. Since then he has signed Minor League deals with the D-Backs and Yankees, but has opted for both.
It has been a dizzying season, in terms of transaction, for the versatile Lopez. He has signed contracts with four different organizations, but has only made 19 competitions and 28 record performances in the Majors. Lopez only gone 1-from-24 with four walks (and only three strikeouts) in that small example of scarce playing time. His triple work between the Cubs, D-Backs and Yankees has (of course) been better than that but still not great. In 42 games he took 178 innings on the record and hit .259/.309/.315.
However, Lopez has rarely offered a lot of help with the bat. He is the perfect glove-first utility Infielder. While he has posted an out-of-the-blue .300/.365/.378 performance in 565 plate appearances with the 2021 royals, Lopez was taken up to a .229/.300/.283 Batting line in parts of four following seasons.
Although he is missing on the plate, Lopez is a roughly average runner with a plus glove around the Infield. He has spent more than 2300 innings on both middle Infield positions and high-end figures from Statcast in every position. Saving defensive runs is not so enthusiastic about his work at Shortstop, but assesses him as an elite second baseman. Lopez has not spent much time in the hot corner (433 innings), but both Statcast’s outs above average (9) and Drs (6) believe he has been excellent there.
The needs of the Cubs in the Infield do not look like this Willi Castro was added to the deadline and now that top perspective Matt Shaw has on fire (.328/.349/.770, seven homers in 63 plate performances Post-all-Star break). But Lopez offers some versatility and depth in multiple positions, and he could be an option to become a member of the club when schedules expand to 28 in September Craig Counsel With a few late game options in terms of both pinching and defensive shuffling.
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