Veteran infielder Nicky Lopez According to Robert Murray of Fans, an exit clause was triggered in his minor league deal with D-backs. The team usually has 48 hours to decide whether to add players to the 40-man roster or award his release when the player triggers an elimination clause, but Murray added that Lopez will enter the open market, so it seems Arizona has made up his mind.
The 30-year-old Lopez hit 0.267/.303/.317 to 109 laps with Arizona’s triple ARENO branch in a supercharged offensive environment. He continued to show strong contact skills with only 8.3% of the plates appearing, but Lopez has no real power, only 4.6% of the clip walking. Earlier this year, he scored 1-1 for 24 in 19 games between the Cubs and the Angels while gaining sparse playing time, a glove priority on the bench.
Lopez is a defensive utility infielder who can handle midfield or third base. He also made some short cameos on the left field, but the position was only 17 innings. Back in 2021, he released a Monday’s .300/.365/.378 batting line and with 22 steals (23 attempts) and plus defense in shortstop. Baseball quotes topped the replacement with a 4.4 victory, while Fangraphs attributed him with a Gaudier 5.5 war. Since then, Lopez has proven that 2021 offensive output is an outlier. He only cut .229/.300/.283 in 1215 appearances in 1215 sets.
