Disgruntled because he's still without a job this late into the offseason, Felipe Lopez fired agent Scott Boras according to ESPN's Jayson Stark. He is now represented by the Beverly Hills Sports Council.
There haven't been many rumors about the 29-year-old Lopez this offseason, except for some interest from the Cardinals. He hit .310/.383/.427 for the Diamondbacks and Brewers last season, better across the board than Orlando Hudson's .283/.357/.417 line for the Dodgers. Lopez also outperformed him defensively at second base, posting a 7.6 UZR/150 compared to Hudson's -3.3 mark. The Twins gave the O-Dawg a one-year, $5MM deal last week.
One person found that Boras is not for every ballplayer.
I was wondering how effective Boras would be in this economy. Sounds like Felipe needs Jerry Maguire in his life.
I think players are finally realizing that Boras really only goes balls to the wall for his top names.
The reason Felipe Lopez is unsigned is because everyone in baseball knows he’s just a thug punk clubhouse nightmare who just had one fluke season. Has he ever had a season like this before? No. The norm is mediocrity and not worth his salary demands. I predict he signs for south of 2 mill a season, exactly what he’s worth.
Well I’m not sure what he exactly did to your mother but your notion that he is a one-year fluke and is mediocre isn’t close to the truth.
Back in 2005 he had a 4.6 WAR season, in 2006 he had a 1.9 WAR season and in 2009 he had a 4.6 WAR season. Sandwiched in between were two seasons, one and a half of them being on the Nationals and they were indeed pretty lousy as he put up a 1.2 WAR combined for those 2 years. But in 2008 he was ATROCIOUS for the Nats (-0.6 WAR), and after he got dealt to the Cardinals was all-star calibur (1.7 WAR). Which carried over in 2009.
Lopez is probably somewhere in between this season, probably somewhere in between 2 to 2.5 WAR which is extremely solid and teams should be lining out the door to sign him, especially at somewhere around 2-3 million.
I wish Omar would go and get him, but it only makes too much sense to actually do something to upgrade at 2B rather than moan about how Luis Castillo is a dead weight. Instead we spent 2 million dollars on Alex Cora, who has never been able to play the game of baseball and won’t help the Mets win a single game this year, or any other year.
Well I’m pretty sure she’s in his basement cuz I haven’t seen her mug in months!! At least you agree that he is remarkably inconsistent. Is he a thug?? of course he is. Is he talented? sometimes. There’s more to the story with Felipe Lopez because how could a guy picked so high, 6th overall I believe, have such a less than great career? And what about all that team swapping?? This is a sure sign that he’s not making himself indispensable. I mean even the Cardinals only have a passing interest in Lopez, how is this possible?? There has to be something else going on here. Trust me there is.
He didn’t get dealt to the Cards, he got cut. From the worst team in baseball no less. Any Nats fan who saw him play could tell you why no one has signed him yet. He gave no effort, couldn’t hit in the clutch and couldn’t field. Then cried about playing time. I hope no one signs him and he never plays again. Arizona had a losing record until he was dealt to the Brewers who had a losing record once he got there. Maybe he should fire himself.
There are reasons to believe it might not be a fluke season, too. His .360 BABIP was very high, but he also had a 22% line drive rate, which is very, very good. Do I think he’s a 4-5 win player going forward? No way. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see him rack up 3 wins if anybody actually gets off their butt and signs him. I’d like to see my Astros pick him up.
Lopez earned the disrespect by dogging it for the Nationals, essentially forcing his release, then playing like he cared the rest of that year. It could be why he is having trouble getting signed.
Thats what I’m thinking. What contender wants to sign a player who is looking forward to his next team while playing for yours?
I think he is worth 3.5 million. And he has had 1 other great season prior to last in 2005.
If anything pay him at last year’s salary. It is only fair. He is a super utility guy after all and those guys are priceless.
I disagree, paying a guy that much money to be a super utility guy is just stupid. Any team with a halfway decent farm system can find a super utility guy for the league minimum. Maybe I’m biased in this view since I’m a fan of the Minnesota Twins who, over the last 10 years, have had numerous super utility guys come up from the farm. Save 3 million dollars, it’s not rocket science. In these economic conditions, I’m pretty sure most teams can figure out a better way to spend that extra $$$.
I get the feeling Boras is more relieved than upset about this.
damon will fire boras soon too!
Why he has not for costing him millions already is beyond me. I say he fires Boras and signs for the Yanks for 1 million plus incentives. Its better then playing on the losers offering him contracts now!
The infamous “mystery team” and all that other crap Boras used to do to illicit overmarket offers doesn’t work any longer. Owners have caught on especially in this economy and the trend towards young and cheap.
Boras, like most business agents, only care about getting themselves paid.
Doesn’t work anymore?
Holliday – are you aware of any confirmed offers within $20m of what the Cards shelled out? No reputable sports writer was.
Boras has done just fine. Lopez isn’t signed for a variety of reasons. Some of it may be tied to Boras. Most is attributable to that fact that teams see Lopez as a sub 2 WAR guy. That doesn’t inspire a ton excitement. Throw in his Milton Bradley impression with the Nats and there are plenty of red flags with this guy.
I have no idea what his contract demands were or what version of Felipe Lopez we’ll see in 2010, but w/o question, it’s is puzzling to see why he is still w/o a job and I would venture to say it had more to do with Boras than it had to do with the perception of him being a loafer while playing on the worst team in baseball. And I would also venture to say that until you walk in a players shoes and have full knowledge of what they experience on and off the field in their daily lives we should shut the hell up and stop speculating about people being “club house cancers” until we hear former teammates confirm it.
It’s definitely interesting. Statistically I don’t see how he isn’t signed already. There must be some form of underlying factor we aren’t aware of. Maybe something in the neighborhood of health or something. It could also be his price, as most of the larger market teams are set at 2B. So, his price and the small market teams generally not dealing with Boras would be my guess.
No I respect your opinion, but believe this guy was a big loafer in DC and let me say this also, I don’t care what “Major League” team you play for…and making millions of dollars does not allow you to “loaf”. Like someone said its 4 ab’s per game and a few plays in the field…come on…and nobody said anything, at least I didn’t about him being a clubhouse cancer as you say. Other players are not going to come out and say it…they are in a “union”!!! it will never happen, I’ve never heard any player say another player is a loafer or clubhouse problem…not going to happen…but your also right about Lopez’ demands for a contract,,we just don’t know ,,,,hasn’t been a lot of press on it….he’ll get signed…I just watched this guy a lot in DC and it was real bad….guy looked like he didn’t care…your still in the majors and a professional and he may of just had a couple of “off” seasons…but come on, keep your head up and hustle…enough said
That can said about the majority of major leaguers. They do not run out ground balls. They hit a homerun and drop the bat and stare at the ball. Reggie jackson started that. If you would have done a move like that against guys like Bob Gibson, or Don Drysdale the next time at bat a fastball was coming for your head. It is about a lack of
respect for the game.
Yea i agree with you. If you do not know that player, you do NOT have the right to say how a player may or may not be a ‘clubhouse cancer’. If its one thing that bothers me its how some people talk about these players like they know them personally. Just because he didnt give you an autograph, doesn’t mean he’s an a–hole
Here’s the problem with that. We rarely hear about how bad a guy is in the club house. Teams are tight nit and unless there is something that is caught on video we are left to think that things are perfectly fine. It’s only after the fact that we know what is going on in the public. Of course, you can bet any GM looking at Lopez is making calls and finding out what his past teams have said about him.
I don’t think we are talking about a guy that may not be popular. We are talking about a guy who frankly just didn’t care and quit on his team. In a team sport, that’s just about the worst thing you can do. It doesn’t matter what the reason is – 99% of players go through something tragic during their career. But you wouldn’t be able to tell based off the way they play.
You couple that with the fact that Lopez has proven to be inconsistent, at best, and it’s not hard to figure out what is going on. The guy has had 2 years in his entire career where he posted higher than average batting numbers (2005 and 2009). Littered throughout the rest of his career are some decent years and then some awful years.
At $3m he might be worth it as a utility player but there is no way that I would be comfortable handing over the starting reigns to this guy. He is, in no way, comparable to a guy like Hudson.
I by no means am the President of the Felipe Lopez Fan CLub but I challenge the notion that he quit on the Nationals. By what standards? He had a bad 1st half season. Does that mean he quit on them? His stats in 2008 with the Nats were almost exactly in line with his numbers from 2007. Knock the guy for being inconsistant….that’s a fair assumption. But the idea that he “quit” on the Nats is probably not as accurate as saying he simply isn’t a “great” player. I have no problem wrapping my head around the fact that no team should be in a rush to sign him to a multi-year deal. However, he’s had a great 2nd half of 2008 and a very good 2010 w/ two teams that were going no where in 2010. Maybe he was playing for a contract, maybe he worked out of his hitting funk or maybe he didn’t like it it DC. Fact is, people are speculating and human nature says that we are more accepting of negative rumors and innuendos than we are of other reasonable conclusions. And I am far from an insider, and even I know of plenty of so called “club house caners” who’ve been outed by “sources”. I haven’t heard Lopez’ name mentioned for the most part.
As a Brewers fan, I will say he played great with them this past season. Would have loved to see him come back, but of course they have Rickie Weeks around at 2B.
Everything I saw from Lopez during his time here in Milwaukee said that he’s a solid guy who plays hard and is a decent talent.
For a vet like Lopez who’s trying to get a last-ish good contract and/or a shot at a winning season, I can’t say DC is the place to be.
This is the first time I’ve ever seen the phrases “Felipe Lopez” and “play hard” in the same sentence without the word “doesn’t” inbetween them.
I’m fine that the Brewers didn’t resign him. He can hit, but god was he annoying to watch in the field – there were CONSTANTLY balls going right by him that he easily could have gotten to. I think he’s a great player on a one year deal, but buyer beware anyone who guarantees multiple years.
The comparison of their fielding shines a bright light on what a sham the Gold Glove is.
Clearly active player “A” will never go on record and puclicly blast player “B”. However, it’s a long and well documented list of “sources” that have vented to writers about “so called” problemed personalities like Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent, Manny Ramirez, Carl Pavano, Gary Sheffield, and others. My point is, players are humans and whether or not Lopez had an off half season with the Nats and then a resurgent 2 months with the Cardinals is due to a personality trait or simply getting hot is debatable. You look at Matt Holiday’s 2009 season and there’s a dramatic difference to how he played in Oakland vs St. Louis. Now obviously, the difference probably has more to do with the familiarity with the NL vs the AL, the ballparks, and the lineups of the teams, but my point is that no one really knows for sure what the situation is. All it takes is one writre to print the words “lack of hustle” related to one article covering one game for that tag to stick with a player. Look at Cano. He was repreminded once or twice for not running out an obvious groundball out, probably more because he was frustrated at himself than being lazy, and that tag stuck w/ him for an entire offseason. It took a marvelous 2009 season for people to respect him again but the tag of “a sometime lazy” player hasn’t completely been erased. But if you were to ask Jeter or Arod about Cano they may have a completely different take on the situation and may empathize with the difficulty of erasing one bad game vs an entire season. Erase out your mind the signifigant difference in dollars between you and I and professional athletes. I know I’ve had mornings that were proceeded by late night arguements with my women that completely altered my state of mind and kept me from performing my best as I half ass muddled thru 2 or 3 business meeting, stupid conference calls and disgruntled employees and frustrated unhappy clients. Magnify that by 24 teammates, millions of dollars and family members wanting time, money and etc and it’s no so hard to imagine a guy having bad moments that might effect his play. The difference is that when you and I slack off it’s not magnified and analyzed by millions of fans and a dozen beat writiers and the national media over and over again.
That’s not entirely true. Player A (Papelbon) straight out said good riddance when Player B (Manny) was shipped out of Boston. Admittedly that may indicate somewhat that Player A is a bit of a douche, but it does still happen.
With that said, definitely players are going to have their ups and downs. And heck, I’m willing to even bet that some guys that seem like they’re “dogging it” are in some serious emotional problems like depression, etc. I mean, anybody who heard about what happened with poor Jeff Reardon can see that ball players are just regular guys with perhaps some significant issues going on. I can sympathize.
On the other hand though, from an employer’s point of view that’s going to be counted against them. I mean, would you rather have Player X who copes by becoming a huge workaholic or Player Y who copes by being disgruntled and sluggish (from an employment standpoint)? While neither is good for the player, one is much better for the employer. I don’t think players should be judged as people for these sort of things, but I think we’d be foolish to act as if they don’t factor in to management decisions.
Cardinals are the only club to have interest? Fantastic, although, I guarantee more clubs will be interested now that Boras is out of the picture. It would be nice to have some insurance for Freese, and a better platoon guy for Skip (Lugo makes me cry)
In my opinion Damon is the blind man, and Boras is the seeing eye dog. Without him Damon would be lost. That’s why he hasn’t fired him.
Not to beat a dead horse and maybe there has been something concrete written about Lopez’ personality, but if people can conclude that Lopez “quit” on the Nats and then was inspired to play for the Cards simply based upon his before and after stats then what’s keeping someone of saying the same about Matt Holiday, Brad Penny, John Smoltz, Nick Swisher and etc? If Curtis Granderson and Randy Winn have rejuvinated years in 2010 does that mean they weren’t hustling or uninspired playing for their respective teams in 2009? Probably not.
Yanks 78… look I’m a Yankees fan and a Nats fan I watch these two teams extensively. Please stop making excuses for Lopez…He “absolutely” dogged it for a year and a half with the Nats…and I don’t want to hear the baloney about maybe he didn’t like it there or he wasn’t happy with being on a losing team, or he had a bad night the night before. All excuses professionals would never make.
Yes if your playing for free, on a Friday night softball league. Come on man.
Lets put it this way if you paid me millions to play baseball and I’m sure you would be the same way….We would bust it every inning of every game, unless we were hurt….
Why, because we are professional baseball players playing 81 games in front of our home crowd and when we become free agents like Lopez is, people can look at the tapes and see we play hard. This guy dogged it flat out, then turned it on when he left the Nats and if he gets more than a 1 year deal he “may” do it again.
Does he have talent…yes he does…1 question…how come he isn’t signed?
This was not stats, this was not hustling and not looking like he really cared. Period!!
Scott Boras is fabolous in creating a market for his top echelon clients. His bravado, balls or whatever you want to call it, set the tone and sets the bar high. He sucks for his older and less talented players simply because he’s not focused on catering to their terms. He’s notorius for allowing the market to develop slowly and having long drawn out negotiations. That works well when you’re an elite talent worth waiting for with a limited market. It sucks if your a mediocre talent because the pool of mediocre talent is much deeper and the fisherman (GM’s) aren’t as choosey as to which fish they hook. If I’m in search for a 2B on a 1 year deal then this year I had 4 or 5 guys to choose from. If any of those guys can be had quickly for the price that fits my budget then, unless I’m focused on Felipe Lopez specfically and choose to aggresively contact Boras to get the deal done, I get my deal done and go on to other needs. I guarantee you that the reason why I-Rod signed with the Nats so quickly was more because the Nats, for whatever reason, were intent on getting I-Rod and persued him aggressively and were not so concerned with getting him at or below his real market value. Keep in mind that no one is kicking down doors to play for the Nats so they in turn probably are more inclined to overpay to get the guys they want.
Why can’t my Cards go ahead and sign Felipe?!
LOL! Morales must hate playing for the angels!
The angels have a strict no boras-client policy so bye bye morales
He won’t have a problem finding work if he even comes close to his 2009 stats.
I don’t think any team has a strict no Boras policy, that would limit their choices, which a team never really wants to do. It may make it less of a chance Morales is an Angel once he hits his free agent years, but it doesn’t mean the Angels will refuse to try to resign him when the time comes just because he is a Boras client.
LOL, Now the Angels fans will have to put up with that schmuck Boas when Morales hits free agency, good luck with that sleazeball Boras
Right…not like they bid on Tex or anything.
Un-freaking-believable
As an Angels fan … not very happy about this.
Those UZR ratings are becoming more and more worthless. Lopez is a mediocre to bad defensive second baseman. His fielding percentage is significantly lower than league average every year, including last year, but UZR claims he was much better than Hudson. Hudson has lost range but still has good hands and an accurate arm, both significantly better than Lopez.
So rather than trust a stat, we should trust some poster on a comments section?
Yea, screw UZR!
UZR is one of the most misleading stats in baseball. What if you played behind a bunch of sinkerballers and your home field was on turf? wouldnt your UZR be worse than a guy who played the same position with a home field with thick infield grass? The stat is effected by a lot more than the player’s ability.
It’s by no means a great stat, but it’s better than any other defensive stat we have today, outside of a scout’s trained eye.
Every year there are like two or three guys who drop Boras and everyone gets all giddy and thinks it the demise of Boras. I’m sure he slept just fine last night after losing Felipe.
if there is one thing that Boras may done incorrectly here was managing expectations. If Felipe was expecting to get more than $3M that was Felipe’s fault by Boras job to convey to him, “Hey man, things, they be a changing and we’ll get you a MLB roster spot and a few million bucks but don’t look for more.”
Odd, what the hell is Morales thinking? Does he understand that the Angels only have 1 Boras client on their roster for a reason????
He must hate LA, I can’t see any other reason.
Kendry still has significant time before he is an unrestricted free agent.
Sorry Boras, Lopez has voted you off the island.
More players should Boras.
He is BAD for the game.
amen