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The Jorge Lopez Show

G-Fafif Dec 07 2023 08:23 PM

Spanish-language outlet reporting Mets are signing 2022 AL All-Star (with O's) Jorge Lopez, coming off a less stellar 2023 with the Twins.

A Boy Named Seo Dec 08 2023 08:17 AM Re: The Jorge Lopez Show

MLBTR sez the same. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/12/mets-to-sign-jorge-lopez.html I've been looking for silver linings in most of these STOINS signings but I just see storm clouds here. Lopez has pretty much only had one good season in his career ('22). He throws hard but has never struck many dudes out. FIP and xERA don't tell a woeful story of bad luck or anything. I read a piece, I think by Will Sammon in the Athletic(?), that indicated the Mets wanted to vary the types of pitchers in the pen this year (varied looks, varied pitches at varied velocities and varied angles). His fastball and sinker are both at 96MPH and both got battered last year. I bet they tinker with his pitch usage, at minimum. Good luck, Jorge. Please don't suck!

MFS62 Dec 08 2023 08:58 AM Re: The Jorge Lopez Show

Yuk! With over five years of MLB service, López can't be optioned to the minor leagues. He'll almost certainly get a spot in the season-opening middle relief corps. I'm not getting a warm fuzzy about this guy. Later

G-Fafif Dec 08 2023 09:30 AM Re: The Jorge Lopez Show

The gist of the Athletic article on the pen restocking, by Tim Britton… New York's biggest transaction in Nashville was a split contract for reliever Michael Tonkin. Indeed, the bullpen is where president of baseball operations David Stearns has done most of his tinkering to this point in the winter — “tinkering” being the operative word. Stearns and the Mets have yet to add a late-game arm to the returning group of Edwin Díaz, Brooks Raley and Drew Smith, and Stearns classified the bullpen as “pretty open” earlier this week. Tonkin is the second split contract the Mets have signed, joining Austin Adams. (A split contract places a player on the 40-man roster but pays him differently depending on whether he's in the major leagues or the minor leagues.) New York has also added Cole Sulser and Kyle Crick on minor-league deals with invitations to major-league spring training. No, these won't grab the tabloid backpages. Stearns instead talked about progress “around the edges of our roster” and in areas that “can go a little underappreciated.” So what is he prioritizing in the bullpen? Diversity. The homogeneity of New York's relievers was an issue in 2023, with the Mets tossing out right-hander after right-hander, all of them with fastballs in the mid-90s and similar-looking sliders. And with Díaz out for the season, the reliever corps lacked high-velocity arms. Mets relievers threw a grand total of four fastballs as hard as 98 mph last season. Philadelphia Phillies relievers threw 1,195 such fastballs. “I think there's a desire to have a diversity of looks and stuff out of relievers,” Stearns said. “Velocity is a part of that. Velocity is not the entire package there. I'd like to have a couple of guys who can really bring it out of the pen. I'd also like to have some different looks.” You can see evidence of this already. Sulser relies heavily on a changeup, Adams almost exclusively on his slider. While Crick and Tonkin are both sinker/slider pitchers, the shapes of their sinkers and sliders are distinct. Stearns said he would like to add another arm capable of retiring left-handed hitters alongside Raley. He didn't care whether that was another lefty or a reverse-split righty. (Sulser is a possible example of the latter.) Tonkin fills a role as a middle-innings swingman who picks up for a starter gone short, who keeps the team in the ballgame or eats up innings when it's likely been lost. That's a role he served quite well for Atlanta last season, posting a 4.28 ERA in a career-high 80 innings over 45 appearances. “Having that person in your bullpen who can pitch multiple innings, who has a resilient arm, who understands that role is important,” Stearns said. “It's one of the ways to insulate yourself throughout your pitching staff. We think he's a good fit for us.” Having Tonkin potentially fill that role makes it easier for the Mets to keep some of their younger starters, like Tylor Megill and José Butto, stretched out as starters.

A Boy Named Seo Dec 08 2023 09:38 AM Re: The Jorge Lopez Show

Thanks, G.

MFS62 Dec 08 2023 10:05 AM Re: The Jorge Lopez Show

An old baseball adage is "hitting is timing, and if you can upset a batter's timing, you have a good chance of getting him out." If building a pen with different pitches and speeds does that, I'm all for it. Now, where's that lefty submarining knuckleballer? Later

Lefty Specialist Dec 08 2023 11:47 AM Re: The Jorge Lopez Show

Flotsam, meet Jetsam.