The Braves have acquired catcher Raffy Lopez from the Padres for a player to be named later or cash considerations, the Padres announced today.
The 31-year-old backstop figures to serve as catching depth for the Braves in 2019. A key part of this equation for the Braves is that Lopez still has minor-league options remaining, per the Athletic’s David O’Brien (via Twitter).
Tyler Flowers will make up one part of Atlanta’s catching team for next year, but his partner from 2018, Kurt Suzuki, is currently a free agent. The Braves also had 28-year-old Carlos Perez, 36-year-old Chris Stewart, and 35-year-old Rene Rivera see limited time at the position last season. Rivera and Stewart are also free agents whom you can track with our 2018-19 free agent tracker.
Lopez came up in the Cubs’ system after they selected him in the 16th round of the 2011 draft. For his career, Lopez has hit .184/.270/.322 across 76 games in the big leagues. He has spent time with the Cubs, Angels, Reds, Tigers, Blue Jays and Padres organizations, getting some major-league roster time in each of the last three seasons with the Reds, Blue Jays, and Padres, respectively.
For the Padres, this move is likely motivated by a desire to clear a roster spot. They are facing a roster crunch ahead of December’s Rule 5 draft, so moving Lopez is the first of what could be many moves to shake up their 40-man roster.
Lol
and that should be the end of those JTR trade rumors! and yes, this is a joke, for those who are comedy impaired.
Pretty lame joke. I think you may be comedy impaired.
Haha!
The hot stove is SIZZLING!
Padres need to clear room first for guys coming off 60 day dl today and more room for rule 5 spots before end of month.
How many Cardinals will they filch this year?
How much prospect info will the Cardinals filch this year….through hacking? “short term memory troll” should be your handle
Nice response. I hate the trolls on here. You guys (cardinal fans) are welcome for David Freese still btw, if it’s not for the Padres giving you him for Jim Edmonds, Texas would have won that World Series.
So every time “Luis Perdomo” or “Allen Córdoba” comes up as – how many prospects we filch, I just sit back and laugh because WHAT have they done!??? You can have them both back if you want them. Speaking of clearing 40 man spots, geez.
I don’t really care about any of the players they’ve taken, but it’s funny how often SD takes STL players.
Case in point, hours after this post, they claimed Greg Garcia off waivers. It’s not trolling if it’s true.
Name 3 other players past 4 years…when you find out you cannot, maybe you should admit you have no idea what you’re talking about. Then look at the players you claimed from us…Tyson Ross a few months ago.
I don’t know why you’re so salty, but sure:
Greg Garcia
Rowan Wick
Allen Córdoba
Luis Perdomo
If the Cardinals are taking journeymen players like Ross, I’d throw in Jon Jay, picking up Skip Schumaker on a minors deal (shortly after which he retired), and Tyrell Jenkins. Might be missing some other fringy guys drafted and developed in St. Louis that the Padres brought into the fold.
Anyway, good luck to you guys.
Can you stop berating us Padres fans with the facts! LOL.
The Cards are a well respected organization with a history of great player development.
Kudos and good luck.
I said the past four years…I’m not salty, just genuinely frustrated because I’m arguing with someone who cannot count to 4
Those aren’t facts dumass, you’re on the internet. Use it!
None of those players are earlier than 2014. If you want to limit this to 15, 16, 17 and 18, let’s wait until after the 2018 Rule 5 draft. Also, at most one of those players were a 2014 acquisition…I can’t remember which off the top of my head. Feel free to google it.
They have one more spot to clear for the last guy
After that they got 4-6 spots to clear for the rule 5 guys
DaveP… isn’t that exactly what the article said? Great post !
Trading Lopez and losing Galvis and Ellis to free agency clears roster spots for all 3 guys that need to be reinstated from 60-day DL (assuming Alex Dickerson is non-tendered).
dude sucks
Give him the good ol’ #8 LOPEZ jersey.
#donttaintnumber8
Hehehehehehe
He said taint
Please let that just be for minor league depth!!
It’s pretty obvious that it is
So are the Braves wasting a 40 man spot on this guy?
He is most likely filling a hole about to be created via trade. Maybe Alex Jackson sent in a package to MIA for JT R
He is actually a pretty smooth operator behind the dish. He was the catcher behind the plate when the padres had a no no going (franchise my misplayed the ball in center) 1hit in the 8th
And perfecto (1 walk followed by a hit) totally
Left in Lyles one hitter to late 7 inning
Franchy Cordero *
Perfect to handle the Braves young starters in AAA…Love it, smart depth move for the Braves..
Yes, he was on the Padres’ 40-man roster and that’s why the team has moved him. The Padres need to add guys coming off the 60-day DL today and then add some prospects for protection from the Rule 5 draft.
Yes but he still has minor league options and they can probably outright him fairly easily.
Yankees get JT Realmuto, Braves get Gary Sanchez, Marlins get Riley,Wright and Contraras.
And u guys were all trashing McCann, said he wasn’t good enough end career playing for ATL. Rather have this guy?
This guy is depth that has minor options, makes next to nothing and 2 good knees…all things on McCann’s Christmas wish list.
Considering this guy is probably ticketed for Gwinnett and is nothing but catching depth and not someone to fill a big league roster spot, the comparison is rather pointless
At some point I could see Atlanta taking a chance to remove him from their 40 man. When they do it will probably be decided by when they think they can sneak him through waivers. There is no guarantee that he will still be in the organization by the end of spring training.
Have you seen McCann play? Why do people want him back in Atlanta? Feel good stories cost 40 man roster spots.
But, but,but, the analytics say he was hitting in bad luck and also predicted his knees will be better this year!! Lolol
If Javier Lopez and Raffy Palmeiro had a baby.
Lopez and Furcal would have been an infinitely better combo. You blew it.
I was talking about Javier Lopez the pitcher. Also, I’ve heard Palmeiro called Raffy. I have never heard anyone call Furcal Raffy.
Furcal was called Raffy thousands of times if not more. Sorry that someway you never heard him called that.
When I hear Raffy, I think Palmeiro.
Maybe millions of times from us diehard old timer Braves Fans !!
: )
Padres are pathetic. Been hearing for years from their fans that they are about to be a powerhouse. Lol. AJ Preller was a cruel joke played on SD and their fans.
Not so fast my friend, they have a stockpile of talent that every team would wish for. Let’s see if it comes to fruition.
Trading a 31 y/o depth guy for cash considerations when they needed his roster spot for guys coming off the 60-day DL is the move that convinced you that AJ Preller is a joke?
If AJ were fired more than half the league would want to add him to their front office, some teams would fire their current gm and replace him with AJ…hate all you want, he is the best at what he does.
Best at what he does ???? What is his track record going all in when he got the job just to fail miserably and sell off his talent for a rebuild
I think Coppy was better with that criteria the Braves got to competing faster
Please excuse some of our fans. They abandoned common sense and logic long ago and replaced it with perennial wishful thinking disguised as hope. To admit that Preller hasn’t proven anything yet would cause a number of nervous breakdowns and psychotic episodes.
Losing can have that effect on people.
Braves started rebuilding first and Preller has seemed to aim younger with more upside in the rebuild so the Padres rebuild was always going to take longer.
But yeah, Preller is nowhere near the best at what he does.
Here we go again. Comparing apples to oranges, fictitious and arbitrary timelines, etc.
Tell me about the Brewers. Tell me how the Rays won 90 games. Then, you can tell me about your fictional, arbitrary timeline, and how you plan to guarantee it.
Well they have what some say is the best farm system in the MLB. Fans being optimistic about the future isn’t exactly laughable
Don’t bother with this southpaw guy, he’s just another mindless troll and he does this in multiple comment sections. He also looks for any opportunity to hate on advanced stats.
Ever wonder what it’s like to be this guy and come in here and read all these jokes from arm chair GMs made about you
It’s always really annoying to read about smaller trades like this and then look down in the comment section and see a bunch of people overreacting. It’s like they think this guy is really going to take over the starting catcher job for the braves. This is strictly a move to help the Padres get ready for the Rule 5 draft.
When I looked at the bottom of this and saw 27 comments for the Lopez trade, I scratched my head. Now this is comment 28…. for Raffy Lopez…. HELP!
I miss baseball already too brother
The amount of stupidity that has appeared in these comment sections the last several months is astounding.
Much of that, I suspect, is from lost souls due to the recent end, and, prior to that, the season-long fumblings, of in-article chats on the MLB web site.
It’s not just recently. If you’ve been using this site long enough, you’ll have started to notice this trend has been happening for a while. I’d say since around 2013/2014, the level of toxicity and number of trolls on this site has been in a steady increase.
*”The amount of stupidity that has appeared in [this country] the last several [years] is astounding”
Fixed that for ya.
83% of all people believe they are of above average intelligence.
Think about it.
depth piece for the bravos most likely. to see how well raffy does in spring training, then will most likely be released after a trade or bigger signing.
juicemane have you checked out your latest acquisition? lol
Will Mitchell be the next casualty? I know he was to blame for the Padres shortcomings in 2018 or at least that’s what everyone told me.
Did he go by a different name for the Cubs? He was never with the ML club.
Clearly he’s not good If the Padres don’t want you.
I’m a little surprised of the amount of comments this trade generated lol.