Infielder Nicky Lopez has opted for his Minor League deal with the Yankees and is now a free agent, according to a report from Robert Murray from Fansizeded yesterday. Lopez had signed the organization at the beginning of last month.
The 30-year-old was a fifth round pick through the Royals in 2016 and made his MLB debut during the 2019 season. He was a light middle infielder for his first two seasons in Kansas City, with a horrible .228/.279/.307 (55 WRC+) line in 159 games in those two seasons. Although in those two seasons he was about a player of replacement level, he broke out of a large way during the 2021 season. That year he cut .300/.365/.378 with a WRC+ of 104, and combined that roughly average sloping line with elite defense at shortstop and 22 to put a 5.5 Fwar defense.
That version of Lopez from 2022 looked like a potential all-star, but his .347 Babip turned out to be untenable that year. He fell back to a WRC+ of 55 in 2022, and although his strong defense and baseing enabled him to stay better than the replacement level, he did not do so well in the following years. He bounced between Kansas City, Atlanta, and the south side of Chicago in 2023 and ’24, in which he improved a modest .238/.317/.299 (77 WRC+) with a high-contact approach (15.1% strikeout speed) cut off a high enough power Production.
After demonstrating a decreasing speed and defense when he entered his late 20s, Lopez has difficulty holding a main class job in his age-30 campaign. He bounced between the Cubs, Angels, Diamondbacks and Yankees organizations throughout the year, but made it in just 19 main class competitions with Chicago and Anaheim. In 28 record performances in the Majors this year he only gone 1-from-24 with four free runs and four strikeouts. His figures at Triple-A for the affiliated companies of Arizona and New York were now better but still faint because he .266/.316/.323 cut with a strike outcoming of 11.5%.
Nobody should sign Lopez for his attack, but he still offers above -average defense and can be a decent contact -oriented pinch hitter. That is enough to be a potentially useful bank piece, and has come up with the Trade Deadline and disappeared, it seems likely that a team will sign Lopez as a depth option in the coming days. He will probably be limited to offers from Minor League, but it is possible that a team with a particularly thin infield mix can immediately add him to their bank to strengthen their selection for the stretch run. The Yankees, for their part, have much less need for that kind of Infield -depth after the club was picked up Ryan McMahon” Amed RosarioAnd Jose Caballero To transform their bank mix before the deadline earlier this week. Jorbit Lives And Roasting shake Also stay on the schedule of 40 men as potential depth options.
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