We can expect to see the Rays sign veteran Felipe Lopez to a minor league deal in the next couple of days, according to Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times (via Twitter). Topkin wrote earlier today that Lopez was a name to "keep in mind" as the club is in need of an inexpensive middle infielder.
After signing a one-year, $1MM deal with the Cardinals last year, the club cut ties with the 30-year-old due to behavioral problems. Lopez's flat offense didn't help his case either as he hit just .233/.311/.345 in 109 games before signing with Boston. The Red Sox wisely offered the Type B infielder arbitration, but a minor league deal means that they won't receive a compensatory draft pick.
minor league deal huh? Looks like no draft pick for Boston.
Could the Red Sox and Carl Crawford have agreed to a ‘minor league deal’ with a ST invite and when he makes the team in ST sign him to a 7/142 deal??? Or, in other words, does it matter if Lopez makes the Rays roster out of ST????
Minor league deals come with compensation? Please tell me that roster spot for a week and a half or so wasn’t used in vain…
It was in vain. The Red Sox don’t get anything but a sour taste in their mouths.
This is actually a very smart signing. The draft order is now set and the Rays made sure the Red Sox didn’t get an extra pick. And well, before Lopez, Elliot Johnson had zero competition in the Spring giving him no reason to even try.
One word. Legend.
This guy. Is not one.
Another word. Tool.
Lopez is one.
Behavioral issues… Would Ritalin be considered a PED for this guy?
beat me to the adolescence joke
I did see him play some 3B in St Louis and well, thank god the Rays are set there, if he does make the team, I really only trust him at 2B. SS and 3B are emergencies and even then Zobrist and Rodriguez can fill in at either one
I would think this signing makes Zobrist expendable. Might DFA him.
Never, Rays FO is in love with Zobrist and his ability to play everywhere, there were 2 reasons for this signing 1) Make sure Red Sox don’t steal a pick, they did this to us last season with Brian Shouse and 2) Give Elliot Johnson a reason to actually try instead of just getting the job due to lack of options
Of course they love Zo. Gerry Hunsicker drafted him. He also knew his assistant Tim Purpura was an idiot/lapdog to Drayton McLane, and fleeced his old franchise for him. One year of Zo was miles ahead of a crap half season of Aubrey Huff. No mistake that ex-Astros Qualls and Wheeler (and to a lesser extent Trever Miller) ended up on the same team either.
LOL
ya, the small-market Rays would DFA a guy who they just re-signed last season to a 5 year deal.
Terrible troll attempt.
Coming into his 11th season, this is his 8th team. Hard to believe he’s only 31. He’s the Reggie Sanders of this generation. Except without any postseason experience. And everybody hates him.
As a Rays fan, I despise this deal, and hope Lopez doesn’t sniff the major league roster, at least until an injury comes. To me, Elliot Johnson has proven himself plenty in his play in the minors, and earned no competition this year because of his great season last year at AAA. Given the chance, Johnson should easily outperform Lopez, but in my opinion shouldn’t have to.
GM AA +1
Thanks, Olivo and Rockies.
Love watching Friedman, Anthopoulos and Epstein make their moves and counter moves. My picks for the best GM’s in baseball.
The Rays are quietly putting together a solid team.
Lopez was offered arb and didn’t accept? Who’s his agent again? Isn’t he with Boras? I would have figured they would have known better.
Not sure his agent anymore because I was just reading how Boras WAS his agent, would of been interesting if we signed 3 Boras clients in 1 day.
Ya, he dropped Boras last year after he couldn’t get him a good job during the offseason, then went to a different agent. Not sure if that was before or after he signed with the Cardinals; I think it was before though.
Clubs can talk to Type B and ask them if they would accept arb if offered. My guess is that the Redsox probably told Lopez that they weren’t interested in him returning but wanted him to decline when offered. Or, maybe he knows he has no shot at starting with the Sox and would rather be a fulltime player on a worse team than a bench player on a good team. IMO I would rather hitch my bags to the Pirates or whoever and play fulltime than collect a paycheck to sit on the bench.
or accept arb, get paid, get cut, and then sign with another team who would pay you the league minimum.
Two big discipline problems with Manny and Lopez on the same team. Maybe the Rays’ coach has a hankerin’ for some spankerin’.
Well hopefully, Lopez doesn’t make the team, and I’m thinking maybe one of the reasons Damon was brought in was to keep Manny in line- you know, keep him loose, happy, joke around with him a bit, you get the idea. They were former teammates, so maybe Damon knows somethings about how to handle Manny……..
Agree on both accounts. Lopez was signed incase of an injury to one of the infielders, I mean unless he seriously outplays Johnson in ST and even then I doubt he makes the team, and probably the bigger reason was to do what the Red Sox did to us with Shouse last season. Manny is Manny and will have his moments but he hasn’t had his awkwardly close buddy Damon around in a while.
One thing you do have to be careful with is Lopez plays his ass off when he first gets to a team in order to make a good impression. Then he starts slacking off and dogging it on the field.
I saw it happen with the Dbacks signed him, when he was traded to the Brewers, and when he was signed with the Cardinals.
So there’s a real possibility that he does outplay someone in ST. But hopefully, like you said, he doesn’t make it to the opening day roster. I really like the Rays and would hate to see them have to deal with the distraction of a misbehaving player.
Felipe Lopez? World Series, here we come!
All of these comments assume that Lopez HAS signed or WILL sign an MILB contract with the Rays. Its just chatter and no deal has been reached yet. I would expect Lopez to hold out for an MLB contract, since there are numerous other teams needing bench/utility infield depth, and despite a weak 2010 season at the plate, his overall offensive numbers are pretty decent. I think even Lopez sees that there won’t be much room available for him on the TB roster, so why lock in on a road to nowhere?
he apparently was close to signing…