The Braves are "looking to make a deal involving Rodrigo Lopez," tweets ESPN's Buster Olney. The news comes as no surprise; MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith highlighted Atlanta's rotation surplus yesterday.
Lopez, 35, posted a 5.00 ERA, 5.2 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, 1.7 HR/9, and 37.6% groundball rate in 200 innings for the Diamondbacks last year before signing a minor league deal with the Braves. He's been pretty good in 13 2/3 spring innings this year. The Braves would likely seek a modest return.
Let the Jesus Montero for Rodrigo Lopez rumors begin!
They pretty much began and ended with your post.
Saw him pitch in person last Saturday. Looks to have good fifth starter stuff, which the Braves don’t really need with Minor, Beachy and Kawakami all available for the fifth spot, plus Medlen once he’s back from TJ in September.
I just don’t know what the Braves could get from dealing him.
Stupid signing in the first place. He can take Michael Broadway and Brett Oberholtzer with him.
Name one team that isn’t signing players like that for spring training.
Are you mad at Oberholtzer because of him blowing the game yesterday? He is a very good lefty starting prospect.
Just because a very decent prospect is 3 years away doesn’t mean he shouldn’t allow any runs against players who are all further along than he. Is some1 really mad about a ST loss!?!
Please tell me how a minor-league signing of a starter on ARZ last year in a pitching deprived market is a “stupid signing.” At worst he was protection for the 5th spot if Minor/Beachy didn’t win the job outright in camp. At best it’s a low-risk business deal that could reap a noted prospect that we wouldn’t have had had Wren not made the signing. It was a try-out, plain and simple, and it looks like Lopez has excelled.
I thought the Lopez signing was a no lose proposition for the Braves. If Minor and Beachy struggled in ST and he looked OK then he would have been the #5 starter. If all three did well then he would be trade bait. Since all three have done well they may end up getting a utility man in return or a low level prospect. So, how was that a “stupid” signing??
And, as others have said, Oberholtzer is a young prospect who is a couple of years away from the majors. Even Tommy Hanson would have struggled in the majors when he was still 20 years old and playing A+ level in the minors. Should the Braves have canned him 3 years ago too?
trade? I think you mean cut.
Uhhhh, why? He’s on a minor league deal. It’s not like the team has to pay him if they can’t find a trade. So… keep him if nobody wants him.
Since you wouldn’t be able to trade a player on a one-year major league contract at this point without their permission, can they trade him because it is a minor league contract or do they still need his permission?
They can trade him without his permission.
Thanks Tim!
Milwaukee, it’s your call. This guy would be a perfect stop gap until Grienke returns and you sort out Marcum’s shoulder issue. If those two are out long term, you need something more. But Lopez really could work as an interim. If they end up waiving him, he’ll probably get grabbed by Pittsburgh. They pick up every pitcher that’s not injured.
He is definitely better than any obvious in house candidate with Mark Rogers injured. The problem is, at this point he is only needed for 3 or 4 starts, and the difference between Rodrigo Lopez and, say, Tim Dillard or some waiver wire scrub over 3-4 starts is probably pretty close to nill. I doubt he would clear wavers after Greinke comes back.
At that point, he would be expendable, no? I’m not advocating for him to be anything more than a stop gap measure. If he ends up being more than that, you keep him or make another deal and include him in it.
…and even a few position players and turn them into pitchers.
The best case scenario would be trading Lopez for a RH bench player. They are a little lefty heavy in the starting lineup and on the bench. Mather has a had a bad spring and I don’t think he can be counted on. So if they can turn Lopez or KK for a RH utility man, the Braves would be all set.
Lopez to Nats for Nix? Why Braves didn’t pick up Nix or keep Diaz is beyond me. I guess they really thought Mather was going to work.
I think Diaz was going to cost too much to be a bench player. Right now there is no room for him other than pinch hitting and paying a guy 3-4MM to be a pinch hitter would be a little much.
I think the mystery might be answered by the contract each is signed to. Everyone liked Diaz, but he was getting pricey for a RH hitter off the bench. And I think Mather had a better shot of working out than Nix…and he still does – although I hope Mather tries to rediscover the magic in the minors.
I’m really confused by the Lopez signing. There were already three pitchers capable of being a 5th starter. Now the Braves need to trade Lopez AND KK? Is this all one big plan to try and do a bait-and-switch?
FW: “Hey you’re interested in Lopez. Yea sounds great we’d love to trade him to you guys for that scrub A ball guy. So the deal is scrub A ball guy for KK and $3 million. We’ll get the paperwork together.”[hangs up phone before other GM can respond].
it was more minor league depth in my opinion, after lopez beachy and minor there is no pitchers in the minors with MLB pitching experience, it was a low risk low reward signing.. if they trade kk i doubt they will bother trading lopez.
Rodrigo Lopez……Thats a weird way to spell Kenshin Kawakami????
KK’s likely being released or sold to a Japanese team, no one’s dealing for him.
Trade Lopez? Are you kidding me? But his delivery looks so much like Greg Maddux’s! What do you mean that doesn’t translate to effectiveness?
Lots of teams could give him a look; St Louis, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Milwaukee, and potentially Colorado, with Cook out.
Of those, the best matches seem to be Pittsburgh and Baltimore. Lopez isn’t going to win you any pennants but he did throw 200 innings last year. Most non-contenders will take that from the 5 spot.
That’s all most teams need out of the 5 spot. I should know; when my Cubs were dominating in 2003, their 5 was Shawn Estes!
Kenshin Kawakami and Rodrigo Lopez for a pre-injured Adam Wainwright. (Not seriously) I just want him back where he belongs.
I wonder what it would take to get Jake Fox from Baltimore. The O’s could use a rotation arm (of which the Braves have plenty to deal). If not Fox, then Reimold. Braves could use either one.
Fox has 8 HRs this spring – the price tag is much higher than KK or RL for him
I understand the need for a Right Handed Bat, But Could We Get Someone such as Troy Glaus on a minor league deal?