The Diamondbacks have signed infielder Nicky Lopez to a minor league deal, per Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports. The veteran has been assigned to the Triple-A Reno Aces and should join that club in the coming days.
Lopez, 30, has been fairly nomadic this year. He signed a minor league deal with the Cubs in February but then opted out when he didn’t make the Opening Day roster. He signed a big league deal with the Angels but was designated for assignment about three weeks into the season. He elected free agency and returned to the Cubs on a major league deal. He lasted about a month on that roster before getting another DFA and heading to the open market yet again, which allowed him to sign this deal with Arizona.
Around those transactions, he has a .042/.179/.042 line in 28 plate appearances this year. For his career, his offense has been better than that but still below league average. He has a .245/.310/.311 line and 72 wRC+ in 2,374 plate appearances on the whole.
Though he lacks punch at the plate, Lopez can provide value with his glove. He has over 2,000 career innings at both middle infield positions. Defensive Runs Saved considered him good at short until souring on him recently. Outs Above Average is still a fan, giving Lopez a +33 in his career, though a lot of that is an outlier +25 in 2021. Both metrics consider him solidly above average at the keystone. He’s also spent time at the infield corners and in left field.
The Diamondbacks have a fairly crowded infield mix at present. Josh Naylor, Ketel Marte, Geraldo Perdomo and Eugenio Suárez are getting regular playing time from right to left, with Jordan Lawlar and Tim Tawa mixing in as well. Pavin Smith and Randal Grichuk are platooning in the designated hitter spot most of the time.
But as the old saying goes, there’s no such thing as a bad minor league deal. The Snakes also just lost a different veteran infielder as Ildemaro Vargas opted out of his minor league deal this week, so Lopez will effectively replace Vargas as the club’s veteran non-roster infielder.
Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu, Imagn Images
Hanging on to mlb career by a thread. Many clubs don’t want the known consistently subpar bat if they have a good defensive younger player in-house that at least has some potential upside on offense to at least try.
Not really. He’s an experienced and versatile utility glove. Bouncing around is what they do.
Man, what happens with Lawlar? Rough start and doesn’t have a place to get regular playing time. Can’t really go back to minors. What’s next for him? Should they trade him?
Lawlar has 18 PAs. Send him back down to get regular reps. Dbacks should not trade him.
He was hitting .336/.413/..579. He probly can’t learn more down there. And if they keep him in that environment, won’t he start to believe he’s an amazing hitter and what will that lead to when he gets a more legit call up at a dedicated position? The gap between “amazing” minor stats and what will be the reality of mlb. All their INF have long term contracts. Maybe best to trade Lawlar before things start to fall apart for him? How long before the AAAA tag gets assigned?
Dbacks: Why? To see Lopez get the record for being dfa’d by the most teams in one season? He’ll be on a minor league contract with yet another team by next week.
Question: What would a moron GM do?
Answer: Trade the team’s #1 prospect after 18 MLB At Bats!
In Atlanta Lopez was superb with the glove and a decent hitter, was just too expensive at $4 million to ride the bench. Hope he finds a home in the majors.